University  of  California. 

FROM     I'll!'.    LI1IKARY    OF 

DR.     FRANCIS     LIEBER. 

ri-'.'tVssor  of  History  and  Law  in  Columbia  College.  New  York. 


THi:   Cli'T    01- 


, 


REES 


THE   LIFE 


OF 


JEREMY    TAYLOR, 


BISHOP    OF   DOWN,    CONNOR, 
AND   DROMORE. 


GEOEGE  L.  DUYCKINCK. 
h 


NEW  YORK: 

(general  -Protestant  Hjnscopal  Suntia])  «ScI;ool  STnfon, 
anti  Cljurcl)  !Uoott 

762   BROADWAY. 

I860. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1859, 
By  the  GENERAL  PHOTKSTANT  EPISCOPAL  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

UNION  AND  CHUKCH  BOOK  SOCIETY, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Southern   District  of  New  York. 


REXN1E,  SHEA  &  LINDSAY, 
STBREOTVPRKS  AND  EI.KCTROTYPKIU 

81,  8:;  &  85  CYntiv-str.;<'l, 
NBW  YOKK. 


PUBLISHED 


BY  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  CHILDREN 


ST.  PAUL'S  CHURCH,  ALBANY, 


THIS    VOLUME    IS    DEDICATED    TO 

THE  REV.  FRANCIS  L.  HAWKS,  D.D.,LL.D., 

AS  A    RESPECTFUL  AND  GRATEFUL  TRIBUTE 

TO    SERVICES 

IN    THE    PULPIT,    THE    SCHOOLHOUSE,    AND    THE    STUDY, 

KINDRED    WITH    THOSE    RECORDED 

IN    ITS    PAGES. 


PREFACE. 


OWING  to  the  unfortunate  destruction  by  fire,  early 
in  the  present  century,  of  the  papers  illustrative  of  the 
career  of  Bishop  Taylor,  which  had  been  collected  from 
various  branches  of  his  family  by  his  descendant,  "Wil 
liam  Todd  Jones,  the  original  materials  for  the  biogra 
phy  of  the  great  divine  are  but  scant.  The  few  letters, 
however,  which  remain  are  sufficient  to  confirm  the  im 
pression  made  upon  us  by  his  books. 

.  We  find  Bishop  Taylor  at  once  earnest  and  genial ; 
accepting  privation  and  imprisonment  rather  than  abate 
a  jot  of  devotion  to  political  principles  believed  essential 
to  the  welfare  of  Church  and  country,  but  bearing  to 
the  seclusion  thus  imposed  a  cheerful  temper,  and  di 
viding  his  time  between  a  provision,  by  the  hard  labor 
of  the  schoolmaster,  for  the  temporal  requirements  of  a 
large  family,  and  a  more  bountiful  endowment  for  the 
afflicted  Church  of  his  day  and  the  larger  family  of  his 
scattered  brethren,  which  their  descendants  of  more 
peaceful  seasons  have  cherished  and  will  ever  cherish  as 
among  their  choicest  heritages. 


8 


PREFACE. 


The  facts  for  the  following  pages  have  been  derived 
from  the  funeral  sermon  by  Dr.  Bust,  and  the  Lives  of 
Bishop  Taylor  by  Archdeacon  Bonney,  Bishop  Heber, 
and  the  Eev.  Mr.  E.  A.  Willmott.  The  account  of 
Eowland  Taylor  is  drawn  from  the  venerable  Book  of 
Martyrs.  The  passages  from  Bishop  Taylor's  writings 
have  been  selected  w^h'oare  in  the  endeavor  to  present, 
so  far  as"  a  small  volume  would  allow,  the  finest  prod 
ucts  of  his  glowing  genius  side  by  side  with  the  inci 
dents  which  in  many  cases  gave  them  birth. 

NKW  TOEK,  February  10,  I860. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGB 

Hadley  Parish— Dr.  Eowland  Taylor— Introduction  of  the  Mass- 
Struggle — Dr.  Taylor's  arrest  and  imprisonment — The  Litany — 
Interview  at  St.  Botolph's  Porch— Leaving  the  Woolpack  Inn- 
Thomas  Taylor  and  John  Hull— Cheerfulness— "  Dear  Father  and 
Good  Shepherd"— Passing  the  alms-houses— The  blind  couple— At 
home— Brutal  insults— The  fire  13 

CHAPTER  II. 

Jeremy  Taylor's  father— Noble  ancestry— Position  of  a  barber- 
Birthplace— A  young  pupil— Enters  Caius  College— Baptism— A 
Sizar— Domestic  relations— Milton— Fellowship  and  degrees— Or 
dination— Preaches  at  St.  Paul's— His  success— Archbishop  Laud 
—Youth— Elected  fellow  at  Oxford 25 

CHAPTER  III. 

Chaplain  to  the  archbishop— Francis  a  Sancta  Clara— Christopher 
and  John  Davenport— The  charge  of  Eomanism— Sermon  on  the 
Gunpowder  Plot— Marriage— Letter  to  Dr.  Langsdale— Its  date- 
Vows  in  sickness— Children 83 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Crown  and  Parliament— The  Church  of  England  under  Henry 
VIII.,  Edward  VI.,  Mary,  and  Elizabeth— James  L— The  Confer 
ence—Points  of  difference— Charles  I.— The  Liturgy  in  Scotland- 
War  with  the  Scots— Impeachment  of  Laud  and  Strafford— Acta 


10  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

of  Parliament— Nottingham— Taylor  joins  the  king's  army—Oxford 
titles — Uppingham  Parish — Isaac  Massey — Dr.  Taylor's  imprison 
ment — His  allusions  to  military  affairs — The  trooper — The  soldier 
in  a  breach 40 

CHAPTER  V. 

Episcopacy  asserted— Toleration— Sir  Christopher  Hatton— Dugdale 
—The  Directory— Apology  for  the  Liturgy— The  Psalter— The 
Civil  War— King  David— Church  Union— Retirement  in  Wales— 
Ee-marriage — Nicholson  and  Wyatt — Newton  Hall — Powell  and 
Lloyd — Grammar — Hatton  the  Younger — Interview  with  Charles 
I. — Liberty  of  Prophesying — Toleration — Abraham  and  his  guest. .  52 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  school— The  Earl  of  Carbery— Golden  Grove— Grongar  Hill— 
The  Countess  of  Carbery— Contentment— The  Life  of  Christ— The 
Countess  of  Carbery's  funeral  sermon 67 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Holy  Living  and  Dying— Death— Sunrise— Sickness  and  submission 
—Sermons— Joy  in  Heaven— Prayer— Marriage— The  triumph  of 
Christianity— Parents 77 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Real  Presence— Dr. Warner— Golden  Grove— Hymns— Advent- 
Charity— State  of  religion — Imprisonment— John  Evelyn — Unum 
Necessarium— Original  sin— Dr.  Warner — Again  imprisoned — 
Dislike  to  controversy 89 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Wants  of  Churchmen— Letters  to  Mr.  Evelyn— Persecution— Visit 
to  London— Berkeley,  Boyle,  and  Wilkfns— Say's  Court— Enjoy 
ment  of  prosperity — Monsieur  le  Franc — A  poor  bishop — Mr. 
Thurland—  Residence  in  London— Death  of  a  child— Sacred  poetry 
—Dies  Irae— Domestic  affliction  ..100 


CONTENTS. 


11 


CHAPTER  X. 

PAGE 


Eemoval  to  London— Deus  Justificatus— Gaule  and  Jeanes— Contro 
versy— Mr.  Evelyn's  benevolence— Dr.  Taylor's  acknowledgment 
—Collection  of  Works— Treatise  on  Friendship— Mrs.  Phillips— 
Dr.  Wedderburne — Episcopacy  in  London — Bishop  Pearson — 
Imprisonment — Condolence H 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Lectureship— Letters  to  Mr.  Evelyn— Eeligion— Interest— Dr.  Petty 
—Lord  Conway— Portmore— Loughs  Neagh  and  Bag— Earn  Island 
—Literary  news — Tandy — Acknowledgments  to  Mr.  Evelyn 126 


CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Ductor  Dubitautium— Death  of  Cromwell— The  Declaration- 
Dedication— Works  on  Casuistry— Conscience— Ancient  cabinet- 
Friar  Clement — The  Jewish  law — Sanctity  of  churches — Justice 
and  piety — Eaudoin  shots—  Scruples — Limited  obligations 136 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Vacant  bishoprics— Dr.  Taylor's  claims — Appointed  to  Down  and 
Connor— Marquis  of  Orrnond— The  Worthy  Communicant— Variety 
of  views— The  dove— Consecration— Bereavement— Incumbents 
of  parishes— Agreement  at  Breda— Conference— Sectarian  strife 
in  Bishop  Taylor's  diocese — Scotch  and  Irish — Trinity  College — 
Dromore— Conciliation 146 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Sermon  before  the  Irish  Parliament— Surplices— Justice— Pity— Mr. 
Evelyn— Choir  of  Dromore  Cathedral— Dr.  Eust— Sermon  before 
Trinity  College— The  wolf  at  school— Eeformation— Confirmation 
—Sermon  at  the  funeral  of  the  Lord  Primate— The  hopes  of  man 
— The  triumph  of  the  Cross > 155 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

PAGE 

Dissuasive  from  Popery— Obstacles  to  Protestantism  in  Ireland- 
Irish  clergy— Duel— Charles  Taylor— Death— Posthumous  Works 
—Dr.  Bust's  sermon— Bishop  Taylor's  remains— His  widow  and 
daughters— "William  Todd  Jones— Edward  Jones— Personal  appear 
ance—Portraits 165 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Shakespeare  of  Theology— Books  and  Nature— A  library  of 
theology— Extracts— Amplification— Varied  learning— An  indus 
trious  and  practised  writer— Not  an  ascetic— Dedications— Elo 
quence— Original  delivery— Permanence  of  reputation— Parallel- 
Conclusion  . .  174 


THE    LIFE    OF 

JEREMY    TAYLOR. 

CHAPTER  I. 

HADLEY  PARISH — DE.  ROWLAND  TATLOK — INTRODUCTION 

OF  THE  MASS STRUGGLE DR.  TAYLOR'S  ARREST  AND 

IMPRISONMENT THE  LITANY INTERVIEW  AT  ST.  BO- 

TOLPH'S  PORCH — LEAVING  THE  WOOLPACK  INN — THOMAS 
TAYLOR  AND  JOHN  HULL CHEERFULNESS "  DEAR  FA 
THER  AND  GOOD  SHEPHERD" — PASSING  THE  ALMS-HOUSES 

THE    BLIND     COUPLE — AT    HOME BRUTAL    INSULTS 

THE    FIRE. 

THE  town  of  Hadley,  in  Suffolk,  enjoys  the 
honorable  distinction  of  having  been  one 
of  the  first  in  all  England  to  receive  Protest 
antism.  Under  the  direction  of  the  worthy 
Dr.  Thomas  Bilney,  the  inhabitants  became  so 
versed  in  the  Scriptures  and  theology,  that 
"the  whole  town  seemed  rather  a  university 
of  the  learned  than  a  town  of  cloth-making  or 
laboring  people." 

Dr.  Eowland  Taylor  came  from  the  family 


14  THE    LIFE    OF    JERKMY    TAYLOR. 

of  Archbishop  Cranmer  to  take  charge  of  this 
well-prepared  parish.  He  worked  zealously 
as  a  rector,  allowing  no  Sunday  or  Holyday, 
or  other  time  when  he  could  collect  the  people 
together,  to  pass  without  a  sermon.  His  life 
and  conversation  were  a  perpetual  exhortation 
to  holiness  by  their  display  of  its  beauty.  He 
was  kind  and  charitable  to  the  sick  and  needy, 
gentle  to  all ;  but  when  occasion  of  admonition 
arose,  he  spared  neither  rich  nor  poor.  Love 
and  favor  naturally  followed  his  footsteps  as 
he  walked  through  his  parish,  and  this  happy 
state  of  things  continued  all  the  days  of  King 
Edward's  reign.  The  accession  of  Mary 
brought  a  terrible  change,  which  Dr.  Taylor 
was  among  the  first  to  feel. 

Roman  Catholicism  having  been  restored 
as  the  state  worship,  one  Foster,  "  a  certain 
petty  gentleman  after  the  sort  of  a  lawyer,"  as 
he  is  oddly  described  by  Fox,  who  adds,  "  a 
man  of  no  great  skill,  but  a  bitter  persecutor 
in  those  days,"  hired  John  Averth,  the  Romish 
parson  of  Aldam,  "  a  very  money  mammonist," 
to  come  to  Hadley  church  and  celebrate  mass 
therein.  Preparations  w.ere  commenced  by 
setting  up  an  altar,  which  was  broken  down. 
It  was  repaired,  and  a  guard  set  to  watch  it. 


REFUSAL    TO    ESCAPE.  15 

The  next  day  Foster  appeared  with  one  Clerke, 
of  Hadley,  and  the  Roman  Catholic  priest,  and 
with  armed  retainers  to  prevent  interference, 
commenced  mass.  Dr.  Taylor,  hearing  the 
bells,  repaired  to  the  church ;  the  doors  were 
shut  and  barred,  but  passing  to  the  rear  he 
found  the  chancel  door  only  latched.  Enter 
ing,  he  at  once  denounced  the  proceedings,  and 
commanded  the  "popish  wolf"  to  begone. 
After  a  few  words  of  discussion,  the  rector 
was  forced  out,  and  the  mass  continued.  The 
people  nocking  to  eject  the  abhorred  worship, 
were  refused  admission.  Some  threw  stones 
through  the  windows,  narrowly  missing  the 
intruder. 

A  few  days  after,  Dr.  Taylor  was  ordered,  on 
the  complaint  of  Foster  and  Clerke,  to  appear 
before  the  Lord  Chancellor,  Stephen  Gardiner, 
bishop  of  Winchester.  His  parishioners  urged 
him  to  seek  safety  by  flight.  "  Our  Saviour 
Christ,"  they  told  him,  "willeth  and  biddeth 
us  that  when  they  persecute  us  in  one  city  we 
should  fly  to  another."  But  Dr.  Taylor  would 
not  be  persuaded.  "  I  will,"  he  said,  "  by  God's 
grace,  go  and  appear  before  them,  and  to  their 
beards  resist  their  false  doing."  In  a  day  or 
two  he  departed,  leaving  his  parish  in  charge 


16       THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOR. 

of  "  a  godly  old  priest,"  Richard  Yeoman,  wlio 
goon  after  suffered  martyrdom  at  Norwich. 
Arriving  at  London,  he  presented  himself  be 
fore  Gardiner.  At  the  close  of  their  interview 
he  was  committed  to  King's  Bench  prison, 
where  he  remained  almost  two  years.  After 
several  examinations  he  wTas  finally  con 
demned.  On  the  fourth  of  February,  1555, 
Edward  Bonner,  bishop  of  London,  of  infa 
mous  memory  as  a  persecutor,  came  to  his 
prison  to  degrade  him.  Bonner  promised  Dr. 
Taylor  if  he  would  recant,  a  pardon,  and  that 
"he  would  do  well  enough."  He  had  been 
previously  tempted  with  a  bishopric.  Dr. 
Taylor,  refusing,  was,  after  the  usual  ceremo 
nies,  declared  to  be  no  longer  a  priest.  On 
the  same  evening  his  wife  and  son  were  al 
lowed  to  pay  him  a  short  visit.  As  soon  as 
they  came  in,  all  kneeled  down  and  repeated 
the  Litany.  The  remaining  time  was  occupied 
by  him  in  affectionate  counsels.  On  parting, 
he  presented  to  his  wife  a  copy  of  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  as  authorized  in  King  Ed 
ward's  reign,  and  to  his  son  "  a  Latin  book  con 
taining  the  notable  sayings  of  the  old  martyrs, 
gathered  out  of  the  Ecclesiastical  History,"  on 
the  fly-leaf  of  which  he  had  written  his  last 


17 

will.  He  signed  it  "  Eowland  Taylor,  depart 
ing  hence  in  sure  hope,  without  all  doubting 
of  eternal  salvation,  I  thank  God  my  heaven 
ly  Father,  through  Jesus  Christ  my  certain 
Saviour."  At  two  o'clock  the  same  night  the 
sheriff  of  London  with  his  men  came  and  re 
moved  Dr.  Taylor  to  the  Woolpack  inn.  Mrs. 
Taylor,  anticipating  this,  had  meanwhile  kept 
watch  all  night  in  the  porch  of  St.  Botolph's 
church,  with  her  two  daughters.  The  affect 
ing  scene,  with  others  which  are  to  follow, 
cannot  be  better  told  than  in  the  simple  and 
beautiful  record  of  John  Fox's  Book  of  Mar 
tyrs. 

"Now,  when  the  sheriff  and  his  company 
came  against  St.  Botolph's  church,  Elizabeth 
cried,  saying,  '  O  my  dear  father ;  mother, 
mother,  here  is  my  father  led  away !'  Then 
his  wife  said,  '  Rowland,  Rowland,  where  art 
thou  ?'  For  it  was  a  very  dark  morning,  that 
the  one  could  not  see  the  other.  Dr.  Taylor 
answered,  *  Dear  wife,  I  am  here,  and  stayed.' 
The  sheriff's  men  would  have  led  him  forth, 
but  the  sheriff  said,  '  Stay  a  little,  masters,  I 
pray  you,  and  let  him  speak  to  his  wife,'  and 
so  they  stayed. 

"Then  she  came  to  him,  and  he  took  his 
2* 


18       THE  LIFE  OF  JEKEMY  TAYLOR. 

daughter  Mary  in  his  arms,  and  he,  his  wife, 
and   Elizabeth,   kneeled   down   and  said  the 
Lord's  Prayer.      At  which   sight  the   sheriff 
wept  apace,  and  so  did  several  others  of  the 
company.     After  they  had  prayed,  he  rose  up 
and-  kissed  his  wife,  and  shook  her  by  the 
hand,  and  said,  '  Farewell,  my  dear  wife ;  be 
of  good  comfort,  for  I  am  quiet  in  my  con 
science.     God  shall  stir  up   a  father  for  my 
children.'     And  then  he  kissed  his  daughter 
Mary,  and  said,   'God  bless  thee,  and  make 
thee  his  servant :'  and  kissing  Elizabeth,  he 
said,  '  God  bless  thee.     I  pray  you  all  stand 
steadfast  unto  Christ  and  His  Word,  and  keep 
you  from  idolatry.'     Then,  said  his  wife,  '  God 
be  with  thee,  dear  Rowland  ;  I  will  with  God's 
grace  meet  thee  at  Hadley.' ' 
=  Dr.  Taylor  remained  at  the  Woolpack  until 
eleven  o'clock,  when  he  was  taken  in  charge 
by  the  sheriff  of  Essex  county,  and  the  party 
left  the  inn  on  horseback.     As  they  passed 
the  gate,  which  had  been  closed  to  exclude 
the  people,  they  found  Thomas,  Dr.  Taylor's 
son,   with   his    faithful    servant,    John    Hull. 
"  When  Dr.  Taylor  saw  them,  he  called  them, 
saying,  '  Come  hither,  my  son  Thomas.'     And 
John  Hull  lifted  the  child  up  and  set  him 


THE    LAST   JOURNEY.  19 

on  tlie  horse  before  his  father  :  and  Dr.  Taylor 
put  off  his  hat,  and  said  to  the  people  that 
stood  there  looking  on  him,  i  Good  people,  this 
is  mine  own  son,  begotten  of  my  body  in  law 
ful  matrimony;  and  God  be  blessed  for  lawful 
matrimony.'  Then  he  lifted  up  his  eyes  to 
wards  heaven  and  prayed  for  his  son ;  laid  his 
hand  upon  the  child's  head  and  blessed  him, 
and  so  delivered  the  child  to  John  Hull,  whom 
he  took  by  the  hand  and  said,  c  Farewell,  John 
Hull,  the  faithfullest  servant  that  ever  man 
had.'  And  so  they  rode  forth."  As  they  pro 
ceeded,  they  covered  Dr.  Taylor's  head  and 
face  with  a  close  hood,  with  slits  before  the 
eyes,  that  he  might  not  be  recognized. 

"All  the  way,"  the  chronicle  continues, 
"  Dr.  Taylor  was  joyful  and  merry,  as  one  that 
accounted  himself  going  to  a  most  pleasant 
banquet  or  marriage.  He  spake  many  notable 
things  to  the  sheriff  and  yeomen  of  the  guard 
that  conducted  him,  and  often  moved  them  to 
weep  through  his  much  earnest  calling  upon 
them  to  repent,  and  to  amend  their  evil  and 
wicked  living.  Oftentimes  also  he  caused  them 
to  wonder  and  rejoice,  to  see  him  so  constant 
and  steadfast,  void  of  all  fear,  joyful  in  heart, 
and  glad  to  die." 


20        THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOR. 

At  Chelinsford,  Dr.  Taylor  was  delivered  to 
the  sheriff  of  Suffolk  county,  who  accompa 
nied  him  to  Hadley.  The  party  remained  two 
days  at  Lanham,  where  they  were  joined  by 
"a  great  number  of  gentlemen  and  justices 
upon  great  horses,  which  all  were  appointed 
to  aid  the  sheriff."  These  gentlemen  endeav 
ored  to  induce  Dr.  Taylor  to  recant,  promising 
him  if  he  would  do  so,  his  pardon,  which  they 
held  ready,  and  an  appointment  to  a  bishop 
ric,  but  without  success. 

As  they  entered  Hadley,  they  found  a  poor 
man  with  five  small  children,  who,  as  soon  as 
he  saw  Dr.  Taylor,  knelt  down  with  his  chil 
dren,  "  and  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  '  0  dear 
father  and  good  shepherd,  Dr.  Taylor,  God 
help  and  succor  thee,  as  thou  hast  many  a  time 
succored  me  and  my  poor  children.' ''  As  they 
passed  along,  the  streets  "  were  beset  on  both 
sides  the  wray  with  men  and  women  of  the 
town  and  country,  who  waited  to  see  him ; 
whom  wrhen  they  beheld  so  led  to  death,  with 
weeping  eyes  and  lamentable  voices  they  cried, 
saying  one  to  another,  i  Ah,  good  Lord !  there 
goeth  our  good  shepherd  from  us,  that  so  faith 
fully  hath  taught  us,  so  fatherly  hath  cared 
for  us,  and  so  godly  hath  governed  us :  O 


THE   POOR   AT   THK   ALMS-HOUSE.  21 

merciful  God !  what  shall  we  poor  scattered 
lambs  do  ?  What  shall  come  of  this  most 
wicked  world?  Good  Lord  strengthen  him 
and  comfort  him  ;'  with  such  other  most  lam 
entable  and  piteous  voices.  "Wherefore  the 
people  were  sore  rebuked  by  the  sheriff  and 
catchpoles  his  men,  that  led  him.  And  Dr. 
Taylor  always  said  to  the  people,  'I  have 
preached  to  you  God's  word  and  truth,  and 
am  come  this  day  to  seal  it  with  my  blood.' " 

As  he  passed  the  alms-houses,  a  row  of  small 
tenements,  each  occupied  by  a  separate  family, 
he  distributed  to  the  people  at  the  doors  the 
little  money  remaining  of  that  which  he  had 
himself  received  in  alms, — his  living  having 
been  taken  from  him  when  he  was  first  im 
prisoned,  and  his  support  having  been  since 
derived  entirely  from  the  gifts  of  charitable 
persons  who  visited  him. 

As  he  came  to  the  last  alms-house,  "  not  see 
ing  the  poor  that"  dwelt  there  ready  at  their 
doors  as  the  others  were,  he  asked,  'Is  the 
blind  man  and  blind  woman  that  dwelt  here 
alive  ?'  It  was  answered,  i  Yea,  they  are  with 
in.'  Then  he  threw  the  glove  (which  he  had 
used  as  a  purse)  and  all  in  at  the  window,  and 
so  rode  forth." 


22       THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOK. 

"When  lie  came  to  Aldliam  Common,  where 
he  was  to  suffer,  he  exclaimed,  "  Thanked  be 
God,  I  am  even  at  home,"  and  alighting  from 
his  horse,  tore  off  his  hood.  As  the  people, 
assembled  in  great  multitude,  "saw  his  rev 
erend  and  ancient  face,  with  a  long  white 
beard,  they  burst  out  with  weeping  tears,  and 
cried,  saying, '  God  save  thee,  good  Dr.  Taylor  ; 
Jesus  Christ  strengthen  thee,  and  help  thee ; 
the  Holy  Ghost  comfort  thee ;'  with  such 
other  like  good  wishes."  He  attempted  to 
speak  to  the  people,  but  one  or  another  of  the 
guard,  thrusting  a  staff  into  his  mouth,  pre 
vented  him.  He  then  appealed  to  the  sheriff, 
who  reminded  him  of  his  promise  to  the  Coun 
cil.  "  "Well,"  said  Dr.  Taylor,  "  promise  must 
be  kept."  The  agreement  is  not  known,  but 
the  common  report  at  the  time  was,  that  after 
the  condemnation  of  himself  and  others,  the 
Council  had  threatened  that  they  would  cut  out 
the  prisoners'  tongues,  unless  they  promised 
not  to  address  the  people  at  the  time  of  their 
execution.  Like  the  wicked  rulers  of  olden 
time,  these  tyrants  "  feared  the  people."  Find 
ing  that  he  could  not  speak,  he  sat  down,  and 
called  to  one  Joyce,  "  I  pray  thee,  come  and 
pull  off  my  boots,  and  take  them  for  thy  la- 


AT   THE  STAKE.  23 

bor ;  tliou  hast  long  looked  for  them,  now  take 
them."  Putting  off  all  but  his  shirt,  he  cried 
with  a  loud  voice,  "  Good  people,  I  have  taught 
you  nothing  but  God's  holy  Word  ;  and  those 
lessons  that  I  have  taken  out  of  God's  blessed 
book,  the  Holy  Bible ;  and  I  am  come  hither 
this  day  to  seal  it  with  my  blood."  Here  he 
was  interrupted  by  a  brutal  guard,  who  struck 
him  on  the  head.  He  then  knelt  down  and 
prayed.  "A  poor  woman  that  was  among 
the  people,  pushed  forward  and  knelt  with 
him.  She  was  thrust  away  and  threatened  to 
be  trampled  down  by  the  horses,  but  was  not 
to  be  forced  away." 

His  prayer  ended,  Dr.  Taylor  went  to  the 
stake,  kissed  it,  and  then  placing  himself  in  a 
pitch  barrel  which  had  been  provided,  stood 
upright,  "  with  his  hands  folded  together,  and 
his  eyes  towards  heaven,  and  so  he  continually 
prayed." 

He  was  then  bound  with  chains ;  and  the 
sheriff  ordered  Kichard  Donningham  to  set  up 
the  fagots,  but  he  refused  to  do  so,  saying,  "  I 
am  lame,  sir,  and  not  able  to  lift  a  fagot." 
He  was  threatened  with  prison,  but  still  re 
fused.  Four  others  were  appointed  "  to  set 
up  the  fagots,  and  to  make  the  fire,  which 


THE    LIFE    OF   JEREMY   TATLOE. 

they  most  diligently  did."  One  of  them,  a 
ruffian,  threw  a  fagot  in  Dr.  Taylor's  face, 
wounding  him.  «  O  friend,"  said  the  martyr, 
"  I  have  harm  enough,  what  needed  that  ?" 

As  he  continued  his  devotions,  repeating  the 
Psalm  Miserere  in  English,  one  Sir  John  Shel- 
ton  struck  him  on  the  lips,  saying,  «  Ye  knave, 
speak  Latin  ;  I  will  make  thee." 

"At  last  they  kindled  the  fire;  and  Dr. 
Taylor,  holding  up  both  his  hands,  called  upon 
God,  and  said,.  <  Merciful  Father  of  heaven,  for 
Jesus  Christ  my  Saviour's  sake,  receive  my 
soul  into  thy  hands.'  So  stood  he  still  without 
either  crying  or  moving,  with  his  hands  folded 
together,  till  Joyce,  with  a  halberd,  struck  him 
on  the  head  that  the  brains  fell  out,  and  the 
corpse  fell  down  into  the  fire. 

"  Thus  rendered  the  man  of  God  his  blessed 
soul  into  the  hands  of  his  merciful  Father,  and 
to  his  most  dear  and  certain  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ,  whom  he  most  entirely  loved,  faithful 
ly  and  earnestly  preached,  obediently  followed 
in  living,  and  constantly  glorified  in  death." 


CHAPTER  II. 

JEREMY  TAYLOR'S  FATHER — NOBLE  ANCESTRY — POSITION 

OF  A  BARBER BIRTHPLACE A  YOUNG  PUPIL ENTERS 

CAIUS  COLLEGE — BAPTISM — A  SIZAR — DOMESTIC  RELA 
TIONS MILTON FELLOWSHIP  AND  DEGREES — ORDINA 
TION PREACHES  AT  ST.  PAUL'S — HIS  SUCCESS— ARCH 
BISHOP  LAUD YOUTH — ELECTED  FELLOW  AT  OXFORD. 

THE  exact  date  of  the  birth  of  Jeremy  Tay 
lor  is  not  known.  He  was  baptized  on  the 
fifteenth  day  of  August,  1613.  His  father, 
Nathaniel  Taylor,  was  a  barber.  Notwith 
standing  his  humble  calling  and  limited  means, 
he  could  boast  an  ancestry  nobler  than  that  of 
many  titled  families.  He  was  a  descendant 
from  Dr.  Rowland  Taylor,  the  confessor  for 
the  faith  of  the  Church  of  England.  No  post 
of  military  fame,  no  service  for  country,  could 
entail  as  great  a  glory  as  this  enlistment  in 
"the  noble  army  of  martyrs."  No  herald's 
cunning  could  illuminate  so  bright  an  escutch 
eon  as  the  reflected  blaze  of  the  fire  at  Hadley. 
The  calling  of  a  barber  was  more  important 
at  that  time  than  of  late  years.  Many  minor 
3 


26       THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOK. 

operations  of  surgery,  such,  as  blood-letting 
and  tooth-drawing,  were  committed  to  his 
care ;  a  practice  still  continued  in  countries 
which,  like  Spain  for  instance,  seem  to  have 
known  no  growth  of  a  social  nature  for  the 
past  two  centuries.  Taking  all  this  into  ac 
count,  however,  it  was  still  an  humble  station, 
and  the  advancement  of  Jeremy  Taylor,  like 
that  of  many  other  great  men  in  English  his 
tory,  teaches  the  republican  doctrine,  that 
"  Honor  and  shame  from  no  condition  rise." 

Two  houses,  still  in  existence,  claim  to  have 
been  the  birthplace  of  Jeremy  Taylor.  Both 
are  now  occupied  as  inns.  One,  wTith  a  sign 
of  slightly  academic  suggestiveness,  "The 
Wrestlers,"  is  in  the  street  called  the  Petty 
Cury  ;  the  other,  with  the  bluff  and  brief  name 
of  "The  Black  Bear,"*  is  opposite  Trinity 
church,  and  seems  to  have  the  best  claim  to 
the  coveted  distinction. 

We  find  Mr.  Taylor  filling,  in  1621,  the 
office  of  Churchwarden  ;  and  we  learn  from  a 
letter  by  his  son,  written  some  time  after,  that 
he  was  reasonably  learned,  "  and  had  solely 
grounded  his  children  in  mathematics."  He 

*  Gentleman  s  Magazine,  April,  1855,  p.  377. 


SCHOOL   AND   COLLEGE.  27 

took  early  care  for  the  education  of  liis  son 
Jeremy,  for  we  find  the  child,  in  1616,  one  of 
the  pupils  of  a  free-school  endowed  by  the  be 
quest  of  Dr.  Stephen  Perse,  Senior  Fellow  of 
Caius  College.  Jeremy  must  have  been  one 
of  the  earliest  beneficiaries,  and  the  trust  have 
been  administered  with  exemplary  prompti 
tude,  for  the  death  of  Dr.  Perse  occurred  only 
the  year  before. 

The  pupil  doubtless  made  rapid  progress, 
notwithstanding  his  tender  age,  for  we  find 
him  ten  years  later,  entered  at  Caius  College 
on  the  eighteenth  of  August,  1626.  He  is 
stated  in  the  college  admission-book  to  have 
been  in  his  fifteenth  year.  In  the  funeral  ser 
mon  by  his  friend  Bishop  Rust,  he  is  said  to 
have  entered  "  by  the  time  he  wras  thirteen 
years  old."  The  latter  authority,  that  of  a 
personal  friend,  has  been  followed  by  the 
Bishop's  biographers.  The  latest  of  these,  Mr. 
"Willinott,  however,  suggests  that  as  we  possess 
only  the  date  of  Taylor's  baptism,  we  cannot 
positively  convict  the  register  of  error.  A 
passage  in  one  of  his  writings  shows  that  bap 
tism  was  at  the  period  usually  administered 
soon  after  birth.  "  We  are,"  says  Dr.  Taylor, 
"born  of  Christian  parents,  made  Christians 


28        THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOR. 

at  ten  days  old."  Jeremy  Taylor  is  entered 
as  "  Filius  Nathanielis  Tayloris,  tonsoris  Can- 
tabrigise,"  so  that  his  father  still  continued  his 
avocation  of  barber.  The  young  student  en 
tered  college  as  a  sizar.  A  sizar  was  one 
who  received  the  same  education  with  those 
of  greater  means,  but  was  expected  to  perform 
a  few  of  the  offices  of  a  servant,  such  as  wait 
ing  at  table.  Bishop  Heber  has  shown  in 
his  Life  of  Taylor,  that  the  practice  must  be 
judged  by  the  simple  manners  of  the  age 
which  witnessed  its  origin,  when  duties  of  the 
class  required  of  the  sizar  were  willingly  paid, 
as  they  are  to  some  extent  to  this  day,  by  the 
lord  to  the  sovereign,  and  by  the  vassal  to  the 
lord.  Master  and  servant  in  those  old  times, 
as  in  many  of  our  farm-houses  at  the  present 
time,  took  their  meals  together  at  the  long- 
table  in  the  old  hall,  and  were  associated  in 
like  manner  in  many  other  scenes  of  domestic 
routine. 

Jeremy  Taylor,  for  a  portion  of  his  collegiate 
course,  was  a  fellow-student  of  John  Milton. 
The  poet  had  entered  Christ's  College  in  the 
year  1625.  There  is  no  record  of  any  intimacy 
between  the  two,  and  the  active  part  which 
they  took  on  opposite  sides  in  the  great  con- 


A    FELLOW    AT    CAIUS.  29 

test  which  occupied  so  large  a  portion  of  their 
lives,  prevented  the  intercourse  which  might 
have  been  naturally  anticipated  between  the 
master  of  prose  and  the  master  of  verse.  Mil 
ton  is,  however,  known  to  have  been  through 
life  a  great  reader  and  admirer  of  Dr.  Taylor's 
eloquent  writings. 

An  examination  of  the  books  of  Gains  Col 
lege,  by  "  A  Caius  Man,"  who  has  communi 
cated  the  results  of  his  searches  to  the  public 
in  the  pages  of  the  Gentleman's  Magazine* 
shows  Jeremy  Taylor  to  have  remained  a  sizar 
for  nearly  two  years.  He  then  received  one 
of  the  scholarships  founded  by  Dr.  Perse,  and 
retained  this  position  for  five  years,  when  he 
was  made  a  Fellow.  The  college  records  con 
tain  the  names  of  several  undergraduates  in 
structed  by*  him.  Among  these  we  find  the 
name  of  Edward  Landisdale,  who  is  supposed 
to  be  the  same  person  who  afterwards  became 
Dr.  Taylor's  brother-in-law. 

He  received  his  degree  of  Master  of  Arts 
about  the  same  time  with  his  Fellowship,  and 
was  soon  after  ordained,  before  he  was  twenty- 
one  years  of  age. 


Gentleman's  Magazine,  April,  1855. 
3* 


30       THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOK. 

The  young  clergyman  was  at  once  placed 
prominently  before  the  public.  His  college 
room-mate,  or  "  chum,"  as  the  relation  was 
then  as  now  familiarly  expressed,  Mr.  Risden, 
who  had  been  appointed  lecturer  at  St.  Paul's 
Cathedral,  invited  his  former  associate  to  oc 
cupy  his  pulpit  for  a  short  period.  Bishop 
Rust  records  the  young  divine's  success  in  en 
thusiastic  terms.  "  He  preached  to  the  admi 
ration  and  astonishment  of  his  auditory,  and 
by  his  florid  and  youthful  beauty,  and  sweet 
and  pleasant  air,  and  sublime  and  raised  dis 
courses,  he  made  his  hearers  take  him  for  some 
young  angel,  newly  descended  from  the  visions 
of  glory."  The  language  is  extravagant,  but 
when  we  recall  the  florid  eloquence  of  Taylor's 
published  writings,  and  which  no  doubt  per 
vaded  to  an  even  less  restrained  degree  these 
early  compositions,  and  consider  the  effect  of 
such  words  from  a  speaker  whose  countenance, 
even  when  marked  by  the  care  and  study  of 
after  years,  retained  convincing  proof  of  early 
beauty,  heightened  by  an  habitual  grace  of 
manner  and  melody  of  voice,  we  cannot  but 
receive  its  testimony  as  truthful. 

The  fame  of  these  discourses  soon  reached 
the  ears  of  Archbishop  Laud,  who  invited  the 


FIRST    SERMONS.  31 

young  divine  to  preach  at  his  chapel  at  Lam 
beth.  "  He  performed  the  task,"  Bishop  Rust 
informs  us,  "  not  less  to  the  Archbishop's  won 
der  than  satisfaction  :  his  discourse  was  be 
yond  exception,  and  beyond  imitation.  The 
wise  prelate,"  Rust  continues,  "  thought  him 
too  young,  but  the  great  youth  humbly  begged 
his  grace  to  pardon  that  fault,  and  promised, 
if  he  lived,  he  would  mend  it."  The  sprightly 
reply  probably  helped  to  confirm  the  Arch 
bishop's  good  opinion,  but  he  wisely  perse 
vered  in  his  endeavor  to  withdraw  the  youth 
from  a  too  early  public  career,  thinking  it  "  for 
the  advantage  of  the  world  that  such  mighty 
parts  should  be  afforded  better  opportunities 
of  study  and  improvement  than  a  course  of 
constant  preaching  would  allow  of." 

It  is  not  known  whether  Mr.  Taylor,  after 
this  interview,  returned  to  Cambridge,  or,  ac 
cording  to  a  tradition  mentioned  by  Bishop 
Heber,  pursued  his  studies  in  some  country 
retirement.  He  resigned  his  Fellowship  at 
Cambridge  in  1636,  and  on  the  twentieth  of 
October  in  the  same  year,  was  admitted  a 
Master  of  Arts  in  University  College,  Oxford. 
He  was  proposed  ten  days  after  as  a  Fellow. 
Although  candidates  were  required  by  the 


32  THE   LIFE   OF   JEEEMY   TAYLOK. 

statutes  to  have  been  connected  with  the  uni 
versity  for  three  years,  he  received  a  majority 
of  the  votes  cast ;  but  the  "Warden,  or  head  of 
the  college,  refused  to  take  part  in  the  elec 
tion.  In  consequence  of  this,  the  Fellows  per 
sisting  in  their  choice,  no  election  took  place, 
and  the  appointment  passed  into  the  hands  of 
the  Archbishop,  as  Visitor  of  the  college.  As 
Mr.  Taylor's  change  of  residence  and  nomina 
tion  had  been  effected  at  the  prelate's  request, 
he  exercised  his  privilege  by  appointing  hia 
friend  to  the  vacant  place. 


CHAPTEE  III. 

CHAPLAIN  TO  THE  AECHBISHOP — FRANCIS  A  SANOTA  CLARA 

CHRISTOPHER    AND     JOHN   DAVENPORT THE     CHARGE 

OF    ROMANISM SERMON     ON     THE    GUNPOWDER    PLOT 

MARRIAGE — LETTER     TO    DR.    LANGSDALE — ITS     DATE 

VOWS  IN  SICKNESS — CHILDREN. 

MR.  TAYLOR  was  soon  after  appointed  one 
of  the  Archbishop's  chaplains.  This  was 
followed,  on  the  23d  of  March,  1637,  by  a  pres 
entation  by  Dr.  Juxon,  bishop  of  London,  prob 
ably  through  the  influence  of  the  Archbishop, 
to  the  Rectory  of  Uppingham,  in  Rutlandshire. 
The  duties  connected  with  the  chaplaincy  and 
the  parish  of  course  led  to  frequent  absences 
from  the  university.  Little  is  known  respect 
ing  the  four  years  of  his  fellowship.  He  is 
said  by  Anthony  a  Wood,  to  have  been 
charged  with  a  leaning  to  Romanism.  The 
rumor  appears  to  have  arisen  from  his  intima 
cy  with  a  learned  Franciscan  friar,  known  as 
Francis  a  Sancta  Clara.  An  interesting  ac 
count  of  this  remarkable  personage  is  given  by 
Bishop  Heber.  His  real  name  was  Christo- 


34:  THE    LIFE    OF    JEREMY    TAYLOR. 

pher  Davenport.  Born  of  Protestant  parents, 
he  was  entered,  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  with  his 
brother  John,  as  a  battler,  or  poor  scholar,  at 
Merton  College,  Oxford,  in  the  year  1613. 
The  brothers  separated  widely  in  their  relig 
ious  opinions.  John  became  a  Puritan  and  af 
terwards  an  Independent.  Christopher,  after 
passing  two  years  at  Merton,  fled  to  the  French 
College  of  Douay,  writh  a  Roman  Catholic 
priest,  where  he  joined  the  Franciscan  order. 
After  wandering  for  several  years  among  the 
universities  of  the  Low  Countries  and  Spain 
he  returned  to  England,  where  he  was  made 
one  of  Queen  Henrietta's  chaplains,  and  la 
bored  earnestly  though  quietly  for  fifty,  years 
in  the  service  of  his  church.  He  is  said  by 
"Wood  to  have  been  much  esteemed  "  by  many 
great  and  worthy  persons."  His  numerous 
works  are  for  the  most  part  moderate  in  tone, 
too  much  so  to  suit  the  tastes  of  the  authorities 
of  Rome,  since  we  find  one  of  his  productions, 
Deus,  Natura,  Gratia,  on  the  Index  Expur- 
gatorius  in  Spain,  and  narrowly  escaping  a 
public  burning  in  Italy.  He  became,  after  the 
Restoration,  principal  chaplain  to  the  queen  of 
Charles  the  Second,  and  provincial  of  his  order 
in  England.  He  made  many  friends  at  Ox- 


CHARGE    OF    ROMANISM.  35 

ford,  where  he  frequently  took  shelter  from 
his  opponents,  and  died  at  a  great  age,  in  1680, 
at  London. 

The  society  of  this  well-furnished  scholar,  of 
such  varied  experience,  was  doubtless  attract 
ive.  A  charge  similar  to  that  brought  against 
Taylor  was  made  against  the  Archbishop  upon 
his  trial.  Both  were  without  foundation,  but 
they  -are  noteworthy  as  instances  of  a  slander 
which  seems  to  be  of  periodical  recurrence  in 
every  season  of  active  Protestant  discussion. 
The  charge  clung  to  Dr.  Taylor  through  life, 
notwithstanding  his  repeated  condemnation  of 
Romish  error  in  the  rapid  succession  of  his 
published  works. 

Wood,  in  support  of  this  early  charge  of 
Romanist  tendencies,  tells  us  that  Taylor  hav 
ing  been  appointed  to  preach  on  the  anniver 
sary  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot,  the  Vice-chancel 
lor  insisted  on  inserting  many  passages  high 
ly  offensive  to  the  Eoman  Catholics,  and  that 
after  the  delivery  of  the  discourse,  the  preacher 
expressed  his  regret  for  these  expressions  to 
his  Franciscan  friend.  The  sermon,  which  has 
been  published,  is  a  refutation  of  the  first  part 
of  the  story.  It  presents  a  connected  argu 
ment,  exhibiting  the  consistency  of  the  Ko- 


36       THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOE. 

mish  system  with  intrigue  and  plot,  so  inter 
woven  witli  the  entire  composition  that  it 
could  not  have  been  introduced  at  the  sugges 
tion  of  another,  without  rewriting  the  whole. 
As  regards  the  latter  portion,  the  preacher  may, 
it  is  well  suggested  by  Mr.  Willmott,  have 
made  an  apology  for  the  tone  of  his  remarks, 
without  possessing  the  least  sympathy  with 
the  views  of  his  opponent. 

His  denial  of  the  charge  in  a  letter  to  a 
friend,  on  a  subsequent  revival  of  the  slander, 
is  clear  and  emphatic  :  "  Sir,  that  party  which 
need  such  lying  stories  for  the  support  of  their 
cause,  proclaim  their  cause  to  be  very  weak, 
or  themselves  to  be  very  evil  advocates. .  Sir, 
be  confident,  they  dare  not  tempt  me  to  do  so, 
and  it  is  not  the  first  time  they  have  en 
deavored  to  serve  their  ends  by  saying  such 
things  of  me.  But,  I  bless  God  for  it,  it  is 
perfectly  a  slander,  and  it  shall,  I  hope,  for 
ever  prove  so." 

Our  next  record  is  one  in  pleasant  contrast 
with  strife  and  contention.  Mr.  Taylor,  then 
in  his  twenty-sixth  year,  was  married,  on  the 
twenty-seventh  of  May,  1639,  in  his  church  at 
Uppingham,  to  Phebe  Langsdale.  Nothing  is 
known  of  the  lady's  family  except  from  a  letter 


LETTER    TO    DR.    LANGSDALE.  37 

by  her  husband,  preserved  in  the  British  Mu 
seum,  addressed  "  To  my  very  dear  brother, 
Dr.  Langsdale,  at  his  Apothecary's  House  in 
Gainsborough."  The  handwriting,  Mr.Will- 
mott  informs  us,  is  "of  peculiar  neatness,  re 
calling  the  delicate  characters  of  Gray."  The 
letter  presents  an  admirable  picture  of  "  breth 
ren  in  unity,"  and  contains  equally  admirable 
counsel  of  universal  application.  Dr.  Langs- 
dale  afterwards  removed  to  Leeds,  where  he 
was  buried,  January  7,  1683. 

DEAR  BROTHER, 

Thy  letter  was  most  welcome  to  me, 
bringing  the  happy  news  of  thy  recovery.  I 
had  notice  of  thy  danger,  but  watched  for 
this  happy  relation,  and  had  laid  wait  with 
Royston  to  inquire  of  Mr.  Rumbould.  I 
hope  I  shall  not  need  to  bid  thee  be  careful  for 
the  perfecting  thy  health  and  to  be  fearful  of 
a  relapse,  though  I  am  very  much,  yet  thou 
thyself  art  more  concerned  in  it.  But  this  I 
will  remind  thee  of,  that  thou  be  infinitely 
[careful]  to  perform  to  God  all  those  holy 
promises  which  I  suppose  thou  didst  make  in 
thy  sickness,  and  remember  what  thoughts 
thou  hadst  then,  and  bear  them  along  upon 
4 


38       THE  LIFE  OF  JEEEMY  TAYLOE. 

thy  spirit  all  thy  lifetime ;  for  that  which  was 
true  then,  is  so  still ;  and  the  world  is  really 
as  vain  a  thing,  as  thou  didst  then  suppose  it. 
I  durst  not  tell  thy  mother  of  thy  danger 
(though  I  heard  of  it),  till  at  the  same  time  I 
told  her  of  thy  recovery.  Poor  woman  !  she 
was  troubled  and  pleased  at  the  same  time ; 
but  your  letter  did  determine  her.  I  take  it 
kindly  that  thou  hast  writ  to  Bowman.  If  I 
had  been  in  condition,  you  should  not  have 
been  troubled  with  it,  but,  as  it  is,  thou  and  I 
must  be  content.  Thy  mother  sends  her  bless 
ing  to  her  and  her  little  Mally ;  so  do  I,  and 
my  prayers  to  God  for  you  both.  Your  little 
cousins  are  your  servants,  and  I  am  thy  most 
affectionate  and  endeared  brother, 

November  24,  1643.  JEE-  TAYLOR. 

There  is  a  doubt  respecting  the  date  of  this 
letter.  The  writer  in  the  Gentleman's  Maga 
zine  whom  we  have  already  cited,  states 
that  the  original  appears  "  on  reference  to  the 
MS.  (No.  42T4,  §  125),  to  have  been  dated,  No 
vember  24,  1653,  in  the  same  somewhat  faded 
ink  as  the  body  of  the  letter.  But  on  the  5 
has  been  written  4  in  darker  ink." 

The  question  of  course  arises  as  to  the  period 


DEATH    OF   MKS.    TAYLOK. 


39 


of  tliis  alteration.  The  «  Cains  Man"  inclines  to 
the  supposition  that  it  is  a  modern  alteration, 
from  the  fact  that  the  letter  is  registered  in 
the  "  Catalogue  of  original  Letters  and  other 
Autographs,"  prefixed  to  the  volume  by  its 
collector  Thoresby,  under  1653.  If  this  date  is 
adopted,  we  may  suppose  the  "  little  cousins"  at 
the  close  of  the  letter  to  have  been  Mr.  Taylor's 
two  children,  the  word  at  that  time  having  the 
general  meaning  of  relation.  "Little  Mally" 
was  Dr.  Langsdale's  daughter,  and  afterwards 
became  Mrs.  Mary  Potter.* 

Mr.  Taylor  had  three  sons  by  this  marriage. 
The  youngest  of  these,  William,  died  on  the 
28th  of  May,  1642,  and  was  followed  soon  af 
ter  by  his  mother.  The  two  remaining  sons 
grew  to  man's  estate,  but  preceded  their  father, 
though  by  no  long  interval,  to  the  grave. 

*  Gentleman's  Magazine,  April,  1855. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  CROWN  AND  PARLIAMENT — THE  CHUKCH  OF  ENGLAND 
UNDER  HENRY  VIII.,  EDWARD  VI.,  MARY,  AND  ELIZABETH 

JAMES  I. — THE    CONFERENCE POINTS  OF   DIFFERENCE 

CHARLES  I. THE    LITURGY   IN  SCOTLAND WAR  WITH 

THE  SCOTS — IMPEACHMENT    OF  LAUD    AND  STRAFFORD — 

ACTS     OF     PARLIAMENT NOTTINGHAM — TAYLOR      JOINS 

THE   KING'S    ARMY OXFORD  TITLES UPPINGHAM    PAR 
ISH ISAAC  MASSEY DR.  TAYLOR'S  IMPRISONMENT — HIS 

ALLUSIONS  TO   MILITARY   AFFAIRS — THE   TROOPER — THE 
SOLDIER  IN  A  BREACH. 

THE  long  struggle  between  the  Crown  and 
Parliament  is  one  of  the  most  important 
passages  in  English  history.  It  is  impossible 
for  us,  within  our  present  limits,  to  convey 
any  adequate  idea  of  the  great  contest;  but 
it  is  at  the  same  time  necessary  to  put  the 
reader  in  possession,  to  some  extent,  of  the 
state  of  affairs  which  summoned  Jeremy  Tay 
lor  from  his  quiet  parish  duties  and  the  de 
lights  of  study,  to  the  rude  and  stirring  life  of 
the  camp. 

The  English  nation  seem  to  have  very  gnu 


MABY    AND    ELIZABETH.  : 

erally  acquiesced  in  the  Keformation  under 
Henry  YHL,  and  the  arrangement  of  the  Lit 
urgy  and  constitution  of  the  Church  during 
the  brief  reign  of  Edward  YI.  The  relapse  to 
Popery  under  Mary,  while  it  strengthened  the 
hold  of  the  Reformers  upon  the  affections  of 
the  people,  by  the  testimony  sealed  with  blood 
at  the  many  martyr  fires  throughout  the  land, 
sowed  seeds  of  evil  which  were  not  developed 
until  the  reign  of  her  successor.  The  Marian 
persecution  drove  many  of  the  reformed  clergy 
to  the  Continent,  where  they  became  acquaint 
ed  with  a  class  of  learned  and  excellent  men, 
who  carried  their  opposition  to  Popery  so  far 
as  violently  to  denounce  Episcopacy,  clerical 
vestments,  the  use  of  a  liturgy,  the  sign  of  the 
cross  in  baptism,  and  other  matters  regarded 
in  England  as  indispensable  to  the  permanence 
and  good  order  of  the  Church.  They  returned 
to  their  native  country,  when  the  Church  of 
England  was  restored  to  power,  to  urge  these 
views.  A  law  requiring  entire  uniformity  in 
religious  worship,  passed  soon  after,  probably 
tended  to  exasperate  this  party  and,  as  is 
usually  the  case  with  any  legislation  which 
can  be  charged  with  persecution,  to  increase 
its  numbers.  While  affairs  were  in  this  angry 
4* 


42       THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOR. 

state  Elizabeth  died,  and  James  the  First  as 
cended  the  throne. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  new  monarch 
was  to  summon  a  conference  for  the  settlement 
of  religious  opinions  and  observances.  It  was, 
however,  conducted  by  the  King  with  such 
outrageous  disregard  to  the  party  of  objectors, 
that  the  great  opportunity  for  conciliation  was 
lost,  and  matters  became  worse  than  before. 
The  King  was  narrow  minded  and  despotic. 
The  zeal  of  the  Bishops  unfortunately  identi 
fied  the  Church  of  England  with  this  false  pol 
icy.  Naturally  desirous  to  establish  uniformi 
ty  of  ritual  observance,  they  fell  into  the  error, 
common  in  that  age  to  all  forms  of  religious 
belief,  of  supposing  that  this  could  be  effected 
by  force.  Had  they  adopted  the  tolerant  prac 
tice  of  the  Church  at  the  present  day,  espe 
cially  in  this  country,  the  unhappy  divisions 
which  now  disgrace  the  Protestant  cause 
might  have  been  prevented.  The  non-con 
formists  had  not  yet  become  dissenters.  They 
acquiesced  very  generally  in  the  rule  of  bish 
ops  and  the  use  of  the  Liturgy.  It  really  seems 
strange  that  the  chief  points  of  difference  were 
the  use  of  the  surplice  and  episcopal  robe,  the 
cross  in  baptism,  the  ring  in  matrimony,  the 


JAMES   AND    CIIAKLES.  43 

bowing  in  the  creed,  the  kneeling  at  the  sacra 
ment.  In  this  country,  none  of  these  things 
have  ever  been  enforced,  and  the  consequence 
has  been  that  their  inherent  beauty  and  fitness 
have  quietly  led  to  their  universal  adoption 
within  the  Episcopal  ranks. 

The  King's  weak  love  of  rule  soon  brought 
him  into  difficulties  with  his  Parliament,  and 
this  forced  him  to  various  mean  shifts  to  raise 
money  without  their  sanction.  He  was  too 
timid  to  suifer  affairs  to  come  to  an  open  rup 
ture,  but  his  frequent  concessions  being  fol 
lowed  by  renewed  attempts  to  tyrannize,  their 
good  effect  was  entirely  lost. 

During  this  distracted  state  of  affairs  James 
was  succeeded  by  his  son  Charles.  The  new 
monarch,  reared  in  a  bad  school,  made  similar 
mistakes  of  an  arbitrary  character  at  the  outset 
of  his  reign.  Opposed  by  Parliament,  he  at 
last  determined  to  rule  without  its  support. 
He  persevered  in  this  unwise  course  for  sev 
eral  years,  raising  money  by  various  pretexts, 
and  endeavoring  to  enforce  religious  conform 
ity  by  the  strong  arm  of  power.  By  the  ad 
vice  of  Archbishop  Laud  a  liturgy  was  pre 
pared  for  Scotland.  On  the  day  of  its  intro 
duction  a  riot  interrupted  the  services  at 


44  THE   LIFE   OF   JEREMY   TAYLOK. 

St.  Giles'  church,  Edinburgh.  The  Solemn 
League  and  Covenant,  an  agreement  to  sup 
port  the  Presbyterianism  which  had  held  near 
ly  undisputed  sway  since  the  time  of  John 
Knox,  received  many  signatures.  The  King 
raised  an  army  and  entered  Scotland  to  sub 
due  the  revolt.  A  compromise  was  effected 
and  the  King  returned.  He  had  scarcely  done 
so,  when  the  Scottish  Parliament  and  General 
Assembly  voted  Episcopacy  unlawful,  and  the 
High  Commission  Court,  a  recently  established 
tribunal,  tyrannical.  The  Parliament  was  pro 
rogued  before  these  measures  could  become 
laws.  The  King  determined  to  send  a  second 
army.  As  his  means  were  exhausted,  and  in 
the  present  temper  of  the  nation  he  could  not 
venture  on  any  irregular  expedient  to  raise 
money,  he  was  compelled  to  summon  Parlia 
ment. 

Parliament  met  on  the  13th  of  April,  1640. 
It  was  foolishly  dissolved  by  the  King  on  the 
fifth  of  May.  He  resorted  to  money-lenders, 
and  obtaining  a  supply  advanced  against  the 
Scots.  His  army  was  defeated  at  Newburn, 
and  a  dishonorable  truce  effected.  He  was 
now  compelled  again  to  summon  Parliament. 
One  of  the  first  acts  of  that  body  was  to  im- 


TAYLOR    JOINS    THE    ROYAL    FORCES.  45 

peacli  the  king's  chief  counsellors,  Archbishop 
Laud,  and  Thomas  Wentworth,  earl  of  Straf- 
ford,  of  high  treason.  Both  were  committed 
to  prison,  and  Stafford,  having  been  convicted, 
was,  with  the  king's  consent,  beheaded.  These 
and  other  measures  appeased  the  opposition, 
and  the  king's  popularity  was  returning,  when 
by  an  absurd  attempt  to  arrest  several  mem 
bers  of  Parliament,  he  again  aroused  distrust 
and  discontent.  Acts  were  passed,  excluding 
bishops  from  the  House  of  Peers,  and  for  rais 
ing  forces.  Both  of  these  were  approved  by 
the  King.  A  bill  was  next  passed  appointing 
the  commanding  officers  of  the  different  coun 
ties,  and  making  them  responsible  to  the  Par 
liament  instead  of  the  King.  This  measure 
the  monarch  resisted.  He  finally  set  up  his 
standard  at  Nottingham,  August  22,  1642, 
calling  upon  all  his  subjects  to  come  to  his 
support  against  the  Parliament.  Taylor,  who 
had  been  appointed  one  of  the  king's  chaplains 
about  the  same  time  that  he  had  received  the 
living  of  Uppingham,  was  now  summoned 
from  its  peaceful  seclusion  to  the  camp,  and 
was  one  of  the  first  to  join  the  royal  forces. 
His  recent  domestic  bereavements  probably 
combined  with  his  royalist  sympathies  in  ur- 


46       THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOR. 

ging  liim  to  this  step.  The  entries  in  the  parish 
register  in  his  handwriting  cease  after  the  sum 
mer  of  1642.  As  the  line  of  march  of  the 
royal  army  from  Nottingham  to  Oxford  pass 
ed  near  his  parish,  it  is  probable  that  he  then 
joined  the  ranks.  The  King,  after  entering 
Oxford,  advanced  as  far  as  Colnbrook  on  the 
way  to  London,  but  fearful  of  engaging  with 
the  large  force  raised  by  Parliament  to  meet 
him  returned  to  the  university,  where  he  re 
sided  for  some  time  in  Christ  Church  College. 
On  the  first  of  November  in  the  same  year,  a 
convocation  of  the  university  authorities  was 
held,  and  at  the  King's  request  Mr.  Taylor  re 
ceived  the  degree  of  D.  D.  from  this  assembly. 
The  honor  was  however  lessened  by  the  in 
discriminate  manner  in  which  this  and  other 
academic  titles  were  conferred,  by  royal  com 
mand,  on  many  persons  who  had  taken  part  in 
recent  engagements,  or  identified  themselves 
with  the  royal  cause.  Titles  of  this  class  were 
now  almost  the  only  honors  in  the  King's  gift, 
and  were  so  lavishly  bestowed  as  to  call  forth 
a  remonstrance  from  the  university. 

An  act,  passed  on  the  fifteenth  of  October 
by  Parliament,  that  the  revenues  "  of  such 
notorious  delinquents  as  had  taken  up  arms 


THE    PURITAN    LECTURER. 


against  the  Parliament,  or  had  been  active  in 
the  commission  of  array,  should  be  sequestered 
for  the  use  and  service  of  the  Commonwealth," 
now  deprived  Taylor  of  all  income  arising 
from  his  parish.  No  one,  however,  appears 
to  have  been  regularly  appointed  to,  or  a 
claimant  for,  the  vacant  parish,  until  1661,  the 
year  Dr.  Taylor  became  a  bishop,  when  we 
find  John  Allington  signing  himself  "  rector 
there."  The  parish  was,  in  the  mean  time, 
supplied  with  a  Puritan  lecturer.  A  curious 
passage  in  the  J^fercurius  A.ulicus^  one  of  the 
earliest  forerunners  of  the  modern  newspaper, 
for  the  week  ending  May  2,  16M,  presents  a 
far  from  flattering  picture  of  this  successor  of 
Mr.  Taylor.  The  writer,  in  the  course  of  his 
remarks  on  the  clergy  favored  by  the  Parlia 
ment,  says : 

"  Monday,  May  6. — ISTow  if  you  would  see 
what  heavenly  men  these  lecturers  are,  be 
pleased  to  take  notice,  that  at  Uppingham,  in 
Rutlandshire,  the  members  have  placed  one 
Isaac  Massey  to  teach  the  people  (for  the  true 
pastor,  Dr.  Jeremy  Taylor,  for  his  learning  and 
loyalty,  is  driven  thence,  his  house  plundered, 
his  estate  seized,  and  his  family  driven  out  of 
doors).  This  Massey,  at  a  Communion  this 


48       THE  LIFE  OF  JEEEMY  TAYLOE. 

last  Easter,  having  consecrated  the  bread  after 
his  manner,  laid  one  hand  upon  the  chalice, 
and  smiting  his  breast  with  the  other,  said  to 
the  parishioners  :  '  As  I  am  a  faithful  sinner, 
neighbors,  this  is  my  morning  draught ;'  and 
turning  himself  round  to  them,  said,  '  Neigh 
bors,  here's  to  ye  all!'  and  so  drank  off  the 
whole  cupful,  which  is  none  of  the  least. 
Many  of  the  parish  were  hereby  scandalized, 
and  therefore  departed  without  receiving  the 
Sacrament.  Among  which,  one  old  man,  see 
ing  Massey  drink  after  this  manner,  said  aloud, 
i  Sir,  much  good  do  it  you.'  Whereupon  Mas 
sey  replied,  'Thou  blessest  with  thy  tongue, 
and  cursest  with  thy  heart ;  but  'tis  no  matter, 
for  God  will  bless  whom  thou  cursest.'  This 
Massey,  coming  lately  into  a  house  of  the 
town,  used  these  wrords,  'This  town  of  Up- 
pingham  loves  Popery,  and  we  would  reform 
it,  but  they  will  not'  (and  without  any  further 
coherence,  said) :  '  but  I  say,  whoever  says 
there  is  any  king  in  England  besides  the 
Parliament  at  "Westminster,  I'll  make  him 
for  ever  speaking  more.'  The  master  of  the 
house  replied,  '  I  say  there  is  a  king  in  Eng 
land  besides  the  Parliament  in  Westminster ;' 
whereupon  Massey,  with  his  cudgel,  broke  the 


CARDIGAN   CASTLE.  49 

gentleman's  head.  "Whoever  doubts  that  Mr. 
Massey  is  injured  by  these  relations,  may  sat 
isfy  themselves  by  inquiring  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Uppingham  parish." 

The  Mercurius  Aulicus  was  issued,  and  for 
the  most  part  written,  by  Sir  John  Birkenhead, 
a  leading  member  of  the  Royalist  party.  As 
he  was  acquainted  with  Dr.  Taylor,  it  is  sur 
mised  by  Mr.  Willmott,  to  whom  we  are  in 
debted  for  this  curious  extract,  that  the  infor 
mation  may  have  been  supplied  by  the  ejected 
rector.  The  cool  reference  to  the  best  wit 
nesses  in  the  case,  the  people  of  the  parish, 
at  the  close  of  the  narrative,  shows  that  the 
writer  was  prepared  to  substantiate  his  testi 
mony,  however  obtained,  if  questioned  as  that 
of  a  partisan,  by  ample  proof. 

Dr.  Taylor  is  supposed  to  have  been  with 
the  royal  forces  before  Gloucester  and  at  New- 
bury.  The  ill  success  of  these  movements 
forced  the  king  to  return  to  Oxford.  On  the 
fourth  of  February  of  the  following  year,  Dr. 
Taylor  is  mentioned  as  one  of  the  prisoners 
taken  by  the  parliamentary  troops  after  their 
victory  over  Colonel  Charles  Gerard  before 
Cardigan  Castle.  His  imprisonment  was  not 
probably  of  long  duration,  as  we  find  him  in 
5 


50  THE    LIFE    OF   JE11KMY    TAYLOR. 

the  fall  of  tlie  same  year  at  Oxford.     He  does 
not  appear  to  liave  again  joined  the  army. 

The  stirring  scenes  of  a  campaign  must  have 
vividly  impressed  themselves  upon  his  active 
imagination,  and  traces  of  this  portion  of  his 
career  are,  as  might  naturally  be  supposed, 
scattered  through  his  writings.  Numerous 
passages  of  this  description  have  been  collect 
ed  by  Mr.  "Willmott.  The  following  compan 
ion  pictures  are  evidently  from  the  life.  Often 
as  the  subjects  have  been  treated,  they  have 
never  been  more  vividly  brought  before  us  by 
pen  or  pencil. 

The  first,  in  the  sermon  entitled  "The 
Apples  of  Sodom,"  is  a  comparison  of  the 
sinner  roused,  after  having  yielded  to  tempta 
tion,  to  the  consequences,  which  in  the  ex 
citement  of  the  act  he  had  forgotten. 

"  But  so  have  I  known  a  bold  trooper  fight 
in  the  confusion  of  a  battle,  and,  being  warm 
with  heat  and  rage,  receive  from  the  sword  of 
his  enemy  wounds  open  like  a  grave ;  but  he 
felt  them  not;  and  when,  by  the  streams  of 
blood,  he  found  himself  marked  for  pain,  he 
refused  to  consider  then  what  he  was  to  feel 
to-morrow;  but  when  his  rage  hath  cooled 
into  the  temper  of  a  man,  and  clammy  moist- 


THE    SOLDIEK    IN    A    BREACH.  51 

ure  liatli  checked  the  fiery  emission  of  spirits, 
lie  wonders  at  his  own  boldness,  and  blames 
his  fate,  and  needs  a  mighty  patience  to  bear 
his  great  calamity." 

The  second  passage  occurs  in  Holy  Dying. 
"  And  what  can  we  complain  of  the  weakness 
of  our  strengths,  or  the  pressures  of  diseases, 
when  we  see  a  poor  soldier  stand  in  a  breach, 
almost  starved*  with  cold  arid  hunger,  and  his 
cold  apt  to  be  relieved  only  by  the  heats  of 
anger,  a  fever,  or  a  fired  musket,  and  his  hun 
ger  slacked  by  a  greater  pain  or  a  huge  fear  ? 
This  man  shall  stand  in  his  arms  and  wounds, 
pale  and  faint,  weary  and  watchful;  and  at 
night  shall  have  a  bullet  pulled  out  of  his 
fiesh,  and  shivers  from  his  bones,  and  endure 
his  mouth  to  be  sewed  up  from  a  violent  rent 
to  its  own  dimensions." 

0  Used  in  its  primitive  meaning  of  killed. 


CHAPTER  Y. 

EPISCOPACY     ASSEETED TOLERATION SIR    CHRISTOPHER 

HATTON DUGDALE THE     DIRECTORY APOLOGY     FOR 

THE    LITURGY THE    PSALTER THE    CIVIL    WAR — KING 

DAVID CHURCH  UNION RETIREMENT  IN  WALES RE 
MARRIAGE — NICHOLSON  AND  WYATT NEWTON  HALL 

POWELL  AND  LLOYD GRAMMAR HATTON  THE  YOUNG 
ER — INTERVIEW  WITH  CHARLES  I. — LIBERTY  OF  PRO 
PHESYING — TOLERATION — ABRAHAM  AND  HIS  GUEST. 

MR.  TAYLOR,  soon  after  joining  the  King 
at  Oxford,  published  a  work  entitled 
Episcopacy  Asserted  against  the  Acepliali  and 
Aerians,  New  and  Old.  It  was  prepared  at 
the  request  of  the  King,  as  a  defence  of  the 
views  of  the  Church  of  England  respecting 
Church  government.  The  author  derives  the 
Episcopal  office  from  that  of  the  Apostles,* 

0  He  states  this  in  strong  terms  in  his  dedication. 
"Episcopacy  relies  not  upon  the  authority  of  fathers  and 
councils,  but  upon  Scripture ;  upon  the  institution  of 
Christ,  or  the  institution  of  the  Apostles  ;  upon  a  universal 
tradition  and  a  universal  practice,  not  upon  the  words  and 
opinions  of  the  doctors :  it  hath  as  great  a  testimony  as 
Scripture  itself  hath." 


CHBISTOPHER    HATTON.  53 

and  clearly  points  out  its  pre-eminence  and 
authority  from  the  earliest  ages  of  the  Church. 
It  is  written  in  a  clear  and  vigorous  style,  and 
with  the  tone  of  moderation  towards  those  of 
different  views  which  honorably  distinguishes 
all  his   writings.      He    expressly   denies    the 
right  of  coercion  in  religious  belief.     "  As  no 
human  power,"   he   says,    "can   disrobe  the 
Church  of  the  power  of  excommunication,  so 
no  human  power  can  invest  the  Church  with  a 
lay  compulsory.     For,  if  the  Church  be  not 
capable  of  a  'jus  gladii;  as  most  certainly  she 
is  not,  the  Church  cannot  receive  power  to  put 
men  to  death,  or  to  inflict  lesser  pains  in  order 
to  it,  or  any  thing  above  a  salutary  penance." 
The  work  is  dedicated  to  Christopher  Hat- 
ton,  Esq.,  afterwards  Lord  Hatton  of  Kirby,  a 
gentleman  of  worth  residing  near  Uppiiigham. 
He  was  a  liberal  friend  of  learning,  and  ren 
dered  an  important  service  to  the  history  of 
his  native  country  by  encouraging  and  aiding 
the  celebrated   antiquarian,  Dugdale,    in  his 
visits  to  the  most  important  cathedrals,  parish 
churches,  and  religious  establishments  of  the 
kingdom.    Dugdale  copied  various  inscriptions 
and   armorial  bearings  from  tombs  and  win 
dows  during  the  summer  of  1641,  and  his  rec- 
5* 


54:  THE    LIFE    OF    JEREMY    TAYLOR. 

ord  is  in  many  cases  the  only  one  in  existence 
of  much  that  was  soon  after  wantonly  de 
stroyed  by  the  Puritans. 

On  the  first  of  July,  1643,  the  Assembly  of 
Divines,  in  whose  charge  the  management  of 
ecclesiastical  affairs  was  now  placed,  issued  a 
work  entitled  A  Directory  for  the  Public  Wor 
ship  of  God  throughout  the  Three  Kingdoms 
of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland.  It  con 
tains  a  number  of  suggestions  and  directions 
respecting  the  matter  and  manner  of  extem 
pore  prayers.  Its  use  was  enforced  by  an  Act 
of  Parliament,  "for  the  taking  away  of  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  for  establish 
ing  and  observing  of  this  present  Directory 
throughout  the  kingdom  of  England  and  do 
minion  of  Wales."  Dr.  Taylor  met  this  by 
the  preparation  of  his  Apology  for  Authorized 
and  Set  Forms  of  Liturgy,  against  the  Pretence 
of  the  Spirit.  His  work  appeared  anonymous 
ly  in  1646,  with  the  title,  A  Discourse  con 
cerning  Prayer  Extempore,  or  by  Pretence  of 
the  Spirit,  in  Justification  of  Authorized  and 
Set  Forms  of  Liturgy.  The  work  reappeared 
in  its  present  enlarged  form,  and  with  its  pres 
ent  title,  in  the  same  year,  with  a  dedication 
to  the  king.  A  third  edition  followed  three 


COMPOSITION    OF    PBAYEES.  55 

years  later,  in  which  the  author  gave  a  sig 
nificant  proof  of  his  disinterested  respect  for 
the  monarch  by  retaining  the  original  in 
scription. 

This  work  is  divided  into  two  portions  :  the 
first  answering  the  objections  of  those  who 
disapprove  of  all  forms  of  devotion,  the  second 
addressed  to  those  who,  sensible  of  some  of  the 
advantages  of  a  liturgy,  object  to  being  bound 
to  its  use  on  all  occasions  of  public  worship. 
In  the  preface  he  has  considered  the  merits  of 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  Dr.  Taylor's 
opinion  on  these  topics  is  the  more  valuable, 
as  the  ease  and  eloquence  of  his  own  devo 
tional  writings  show  that  he  could  have  easily 
excelled  in  extempore  prayer,  had  he  deemed 
it  fitting  to  use  public  devotion  as  a  means  of 
personal  display.  His  published  sermons  close 
in  many  instances  with  an  original  prayer,  as 
was  then  the  custom  of  divines,  but  the  prayer 
was  evidently,  like  the  sermon,  carefully  com 
posed  in  advance  of  the  occasion  for  its  use. 

In  1644,  a  volume  was  published  at  Oxford 
with  the  title,  The  Psalter  of  David,  with  Ti 
tles  and  Collects  according  to  the  matter  of 
each  Psalm,  by  the  Right  Honorable  Christo 
pher  Hatton.  The  "titles  and  collects"  are 


56  THE   LIFE    OF    JEREMY    TAYLOR. 

from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Taylor,  and  the  work  ap 
peared  in  the  eighth  edition,  1672,  with  his 
name  as  author.  Each  collect  contains  a  sum 
mary  of  the  contents  of  the  psalm  which  pre 
cedes  it,  expressed  with  the  author's  wonted 
grace  and  fervor.  No  reason  is  known  for  the 
substitution  of  his  friend  Hatton's  name  for 
his  own  on  the  original  title-page. 

The  preface  contains  a  passage  of  interest 
from  its  personal  nature.  "  In  this  most  un 
natural  war  commenced  against  the  greatest 
solemnities  of  Christianity,  and  all  that  is  call 
ed  God,  I  have  been  put  to  it  to  run  some 
whither  to  sanctuary ;  but  whither,  was  so 
great  a  question,  that  had  not  religion  been 
my  guide,  I  had  not  known  where  to  have 
found  rest  or  safety :  when  the  King  and  the 
laws,  who,  by  God  and  man  respectively,  are 
appointed  the  protectors  of  innocence  and 
truth,  had  themselves  the  greatest  need  of  a 
protector.  And  when,  in  the  beginning  of 
these  troubles,  I  hastened  to  his  Majesty,  the 
case  of  the  King  and  his  good  subjects  was 
something  like  that  of  Isaac  ready  to  be  sacri 
ficed;  the  wood  was  prepared,  the  fire  kindled, 
the  knife  was  lift  up,  and  the  hand  was  strik 
ing  ;  that,  if  we  had  not  been  something  like 


CONSOLATIONS.  57 

Abraham  too,  and  '  against  hope  had  believed 
in  hope,'  we  had  been  as  much  without  com 
fort,  as  we  were,  in  outward  appearance,  with 
out  remedy. 

"  It  was  my  custom  long  since  to  secure  my 
self  against  the  violence  of  discontents  abroad, 
— as  Gerson  did  against  temptations, — i  in  an- 
gulis  et  libellisj  c  in  my  books  and  my  retire 
ments  ;'  but  now  I  was  deprived  of  both  them, 
and  driven  to  a  public  view  and  participation 
of  those  dangers  and  miseries  which  threatened 
the  kingdom,  and  disturbed  the  evenness  of 
my  former  life.  I  was,  therefore,  constrained 
to  amass  together  all  those  arguments  of  hope 
and  comfort,  by  which  men  in  the  like  condi 
tion  were  supported;  and  amongst  all  the 
great  examples  of  trouble  and  confidence,  I 
reckoned  King  David  one  of  the  biggest,  and 
of  greatest  consideration.  For,  considering 
that  he  was  a  king  vexed  with  a  civil  war,  his 
case  had  so  much  of  ours  in  it,  that  it  was 
likely  the  devotions  he  used  might  fit  our  turn, 
and  his  comforts  sustain  us." 

Another  passage  shows  his  chief  aim  in  the 
preparation  of  the  work  to  have  been  the  pro 
motion  of  the  noble  cause  of  Catholic  union. 
After  showing  that  the  recorded  devotions  of 


58       THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOR. 

our  Saviour  and  the  Apostles,  are,  almost  en 
tirely,  taken  from  Psalms,  lie  says,  "  I  thought 
I  might  not  imprudently  intend  this  book  as 
an  instrument  of  public  charity  to  Christians 
of  different  confessions.  For  I  see  that  all 
sorts  of  people  sing  or  say  David's  Psalms  ; 
and  by  that  use,  if  they  understand  the  conse 
quences  of  their  own  religion,  accept  set  forms 
of  prayer  for  their  liturgy,  and  this  form  in 
special  is  one  of  their  own  choices  for  devo 
tion:  so  that  if  all  Christians  that  think  Da 
vid's  Psalms  lawful  devotions,  and  shall  ob 
serve  the  collects  from  them  to  be  just  of  the 
same  religion,  would  join  in  this  or  the  like 
form,  I  am  something  confident  the  product 
would  be  charity,  besides  other  spiritual  ad 
vantages.  For  my  own  particular,  since  all 
Christendom  is  so  much  divided  and  subdivid 
ed  into  innumerable  sects,  I  knew  not  how  to 
give  a  better  evidence  of  my  own  belief  and 
love  of  the  communion  of  saints,  and  detesta 
tion  of  schism,  than  by  an  act  of  religion,  whose 
consequence  might  be,  if  men  please,  the  ad 
vancement  of  a  universal  communion." 

The  exact  date  of  Dr.  Taylor's  retirement 
from  the  army  is  unknown.  All  hope  of  suc 
cess  for  the  royal  arms  was  now  at  an  end. 


FEIEXDS    IN"    ADVERSITY.  59 

Dr.  Taylor,  as  we  have  seen,  had  been  taken 
prisoner  in  Wales.  After  his  release  he  seems 
to  have  established  himself  in  that  portion  of 
the  country.  A  celebrated  passage  in  the 
introduction  to  The  Liberty  of  Prophesying, 
evidently  refers  to  this  portion  of  his  career, 
and  furnishes  almost  our  only  information  re 
specting  it. 

"  In  the  great  storm,"  he  says,  "  which 
dashed  the  vessel  of  the  Church  in  pieces,  I 
was  cast  on  the  coast  of  Wales ;  and  in  a  little 
boat,  thought  to  have  enjoyed  that  rest  and 
quietness  which  in  England  I  could  not  hope 
for.  Here  I  cast  anchor ;  and  thinking  to  ride 
safely,  the  storm  followed  me  with  so  impetu 
ous  a  violence,  that  it  broke  a  cable,  and  I  lost 
my  anchor.  And  here  again  I  was  exposed 
to  the  mercy  of  the  sea,  and  the  gentleness  of 
an  element  that  could  neither  distinguish 
things  nor  persons.  And  but  that  He  who 
stilleth  the  raging  of  the  sea,  and  the  noise  of 
his  waves,  and  the  madness  of  his  people,  had 
provided  a  plank  for  me,  I  had  been  lost  to  all 
the  opportunities  of  content  and  study.  But  I 
know  not  whether  I  have  been  more  preserved 
by  the  courtesies  of  my  friends,  or  the  gentle 
ness  and  mercies  of  a  noble  enemy."  The  fol- 


60       THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOK. 

lowing  passage  from  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
follows  in  the  original  Greek.  "  And  the  bar 
barous  people  showed  us  no  little  kindness,  for 
they  kindled  a  fire  and  received  us  every  one, 
because  of  the  present  rain,  and  because  of  the 
cold." 

Bishop  Heber  traces  a  parallel  between  this 
passage  and  the  circumstances  attending  Dr. 
Taylor's  capture  and  imprisonment  after  the 
engagement  at  Cardigan  Castle.  Mr.  Will- 
mott,  with  we  think  greater  propriety,  makes 
it  refer  to  the  general  course  of  the  divine's 
fortunes  at  this  period.  He  married  in  Wales, 
Joanna  Bridges,  said  to  have  been  a  natural 
daughter  of  King  Charles  I.,  when  Prince  of 
Wales.  Tradition  reports  the  lady  to  have 
been  very  beautiful,  and  the  owner  of  a  large 
property  in  Llangadock,  in  the  northeastern 
part  of  Caermarthenshire.  The  estate,  Mandin- 
nam,  is  about  two  miles  from  the  town.  Its 
revenues  had  been,  probably  previous  to  the 
marriage,  greatly  reduced  by  the  exactions  of 
the  dominant  party,  and  the  unsettled  state  of 
public  affairs,  as  we  find  Dr.  Taylor  opening  a 
school  in  this  rural  district  as  a  means  of  sup 
port.  He  placed  his  school  in  the  village  of 
Llanfihangel  Aberbythic,  and  was  assisted  in 


NEWTON   HALL.  61 

its  care  by  "William  Nicholson,  who  had  been 
recently  ousted  by  Parliament  from  a  com 
fortable  living  in  South  Wales,  and  afterwards 
became  Bishop  of  Gloucester.  His  other  asso 
ciate,  "William  Wyatt,  became  a  Prebendary 
of  Lincoln.  They  rented  Newton  Hall,  a 
house  of  some  importance  in  the  parish,  and 
appear  to  have  been  successful  in  their  enter 
prise.  Two  of  their  scholars,  Judge  Powell, 
who  took  a  leading  part  on  the  trial  of  the 
seven  Bishops,  in  the  reign  of  James  H.,  and 
Griffin  Lloyd  of  Cwmgwilly,  were  apparently 
proud  of  having  been  educated  at  the  estab 
lishment,  as  their  tombstones  bear  witness  to 
the  fact.  The  school  has  also  left  its  record  in 
A  New  and  Easy  Institution  of  Grammar, 
a  work  published  in  1647,  writh  a  dedicatory 
epistle  in  Latin,  from  the  Collegium  Newton  l- 
ense,  to  Lord  Hatton,  and  another  in  English 
from  Taylor  to  Christopher  Hatton,  the  eldest 
son  of  the  nobleman, — a  youth  at  that  time  of 
fifteen,  who  afterwards  became,  under  Charles 
the  Second,  a  viscount  and  governor  of  the 
island  of  Guernsey.  The  book  was  probably 
prepared  by  Wyatt,  as  it  bears  no  trace  of  the 
more  gifted  mind  of  his  associate.  A  pointed 
remark  on  the  necessity  of  mental  occupation 
6 


62       THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOE. 

for  youth,  is  one  of  the  few  specimens  of  Dr. 
Taylor's  conversation  which  have  been  pre 
served.  "  If,"  he  once  remarked,  "  you  do  not 
choose  to  fill  your  boy's  head  with  something, 
believe  me,  the  devil  will."  * 

It  was  probably  about  this  time  that  Dr. 
Taylor  had  his  last  interview  with  the  mon 
arch  whose  adverse  fortunes  he  had  so  faith 
fully  followed.  Charles'  chaplains  were  al 
lowed  free  access  to  his  person,  in  August, 
1647.  During  Dr.  Taylor's  visit,  at  this  or  a 
later  period,  he  received  from  the  King,  as  a 
testimony  of  his  regard,  his  watch,  and  a  few 
pearls  and  rubies  which  had  ornamented  his 
ebony  Bible-case. 

In  1647  Dr.  Taylor  published  The  Liberty 
of  Prophesying,  one  of  the  most  able  of  his 
many  valuable  works,  and  enjoying  the  high 
honor  of  having  been  the  first  plea  in  history 
for  toleration  and  liberty  respecting  differen 
ces  of  religious  belief.  Taking  the  Apostles' 
Creed  as  the  summary  of  Christian  Doctrine, 
he  regards  all  differences  not  embraced  in  its 
few  and  simple  sentences  as  of  less  import- 


®  Reward's  Anecdotes,   vol.  ii.,  p.  45;    quoted   in  Bishop 
Heber's  Life  of  Taylor. 


RELIGIOUS    BELIEF.  63 

ance   than  the   prevalence  of  peace  and  har 
mony. 

He  then  illustrates  the  difficulties  attending 
the  formation  of  a  right  judgment  on  many 
matters  of  scriptural  belief,  not  included  in  this 
simple  and  primitive  summary,  and  the  ina 
bility  of  tradition,  of  councils,  and  of  the  pa 
pal  power  to  determine  authoritatively  these 
questions.  The  solution,  if  one  is  needed,  must, 
he  holds,  be  sought  by  the  exercise  of  our  rea 
son.  This  arbitrator  cannot  however,  any 
more  than  those  already  named,  claim  infalli 
bility.  We  are  not  morally  accountable,  if,  af 
ter  having  used  our  best  endeavors,  we  arrive 
at  a  wrong  conclusion  ;  but  we  are  in  decided 
and  grievous  error,  if  we  attempt  to  force  such 
decision,  whether  it  be  right  or  wrong,  upon 
our  neighbor.  "  Let  not  men"  he  says,  "  be 
hasty,  in  calling  every  disliked  opinion  by  the 
name  of  heresy,  and,  when  they  have  resolved 
that  they  will  call  it  so,  let  them  use  the  erring 
person  like  a  brother,  not  beat  him  like  a  dog, 
nor  convince  him  with  a  gibbet,  or  vex  him 
out  of  his  understanding  and  persuasions." 

He  then  shows,  that  this  tolerant  theory  is 
in  accordance  with  the  practice  of  the  primiW 
tive  Church,  that  it  was  first  used  by  heretical 


64r  THE    LIFE    OF   JEREMY    TAYLOR. 

sects,  during  their  temporary  assumption  and 
possession  of  power ;  that  even  after  the  usurp 
ation  of  the  papacy,  life  was  not  exacted  as 
the  penalty  for  holding  or  teaching  doctrines 
deemed  erroneous,  until  the  persecution  of  the 
Albigenses. 

The  civil  power  is,  equally  with  the  ecclesi 
astical,  to  extend  toleration  to  diversity  of  re 
ligious  opinion,  provided  that  the  public  peace 
be  not  broken  by  services  of  a  disorderly  or 
immoral  nature.  The  decision,  on  this  point, 
he  leaves  to  the  discretion  of  the  magistrate. 
He  then  enters  into  an  examination  of  the  doc 
trines  of  the  Anabaptists  and  Roman  Cath 
olics,  as  the  two  sects  "which  are  most 
troublesome  and  most  disliked,"  that  "  by  an 
account  made  of  these,  we  may  make  judg 
ment  what  may  be  done  towards  others,  whose 
errors  are  not  apprehended  of  so  great  malig 
nity."  After  an  examination  of  the  doctrines 
of  these  sects,  including  an  elaborate  examina 
tion  of  the  question  of  infant  baptism,  and  a 
careful  estimate  of  the  extent  of  these  errors, 
he  concludes,  that  the  decision  of  their  tolera 
tion  is  for  the  magistrate  to  determine.  "  Let 
the  prince  and  the  secular  power  have  a  care 
the  commonwealth  be  safe  ;  for  whether  such 


TOLERATION.  65 

or  such  a  sect  of  Christians  be  to  be  permitted, 
is  a -question  rather  political  than  religious." 

Denominations  of  Christians,  agreeing  upon 
topics  embraced  in  the  Creed,  are,  he  urges,  to 
commune  together.  The  Liberty  of  Prophe 
sying  concludes  with  one  of  its  author's  most 
beautifully  narrated  parables.  It  is  not  found 
in  the  original  edition,  but  was  added  in  that 

of  1657. 

"I  end  with  a  story  which  I  find  in  the 
Jews'  books.  When  Abraham  sat  at  his 
tent  door,  according  to  his  custom,  waiting  to 
entertain  strangers;  he  espied  an  old  man 
stooping  and  leaning  on  his  staff,  weary  with 
age  and  travel,  coming  towards  him,  who  was 
an  hundred  years  of  age.  He  received  him 
kindly,  washed  his  feet,  provided  supper, 
caused  him  to  sit  down,  but  observing  that 
the  old  man  eat  and  prayed  not,  nor  begged 
for  a  blessing  on  his  meat,  he  asked  him  why 
he  did  not  worship  the  God  of  heaven :  the 
old  man  told  him,  that  he  worshipped  the  fire 
only,  and  acknowledged  no  other  God;  at 
which  answer,  Abraham  grew  so  zealously  an 
gry,  that  he  thrust  the  old  man  out  of  his  tent, 
and  exposed  him  to  all  the  evils  of  the  night 
and  an  unguarded  condition.  When  the  old 


66       THE  LIFE  OF  JEEEMY  TAYLOR. 

man  was  gone,  God  called  to  Abraham,  and 
asked  him  where  the  stranger  was ;  he  re 
plied,  '  I  thrust  him  away,  because  he  did  not 
worship  Thee :'  God  answered  him,  i  I  have 
suffered  him  these  hundred  years,  although  he 
dishonored  Me,  and  couldst  not  thou  endure 
him  one  night,  when  he  gave  thee  no  trouble.' 
Upon  this,  saith  the  story,  Abraham  fetched 
him  back  again,  and  gave  him  hospitable  en 
tertainment,  and  wise  instruction.  Go  thou 
and  do  likewise,  and  thy  charity  will  be  re 
warded  by  the  God  of  Abraham." 

This  story  has  also  been  used  by  Dr.  Frank 
lin,  in  his  "  Parable  of  Persecution." 


CHAPTEE  VI. 

THE  SCHOOL THE  EAEL  OF  CAEBEEY — GOLDEN  GEOVE 

GBONGAE  HILL THE  COUNTESS  OF  CAEBEEY CONTENT 
MENT — THE  LIFE  OF  CHEIST — THE  COUNTESS  OF  CAE- 
BEEY'S  FUNEEAL  SEEMON. 

DE.  TAYLOE'S  school  probably  furnished 
but  a  moderate  addition  to  his  income. 
He  was  shielded  from  want,  his  works  now 
probably  yielding  something  to  their  author. 
He  received  occasional  aid  also  from  a  wealthy 
landed  proprietor  of  the  neighborhood,  Eich- 
ard  Yaughan,  earl  of  Carbery.  This  gentle 
man  had  distinguished  himself  as  a  soldier  in 
the  Irish  wars,  and  obtained  the  Order  of  the 
Bath  for  his  good  conduct.  He  had  been 
during  the  recent  conflict  the  principal  roy 
alist  commander  in  South  Wales,  and  was 
made  in  consequence,  after  the  Eestoration, 
Lord  Vaughan  of  Emlyn,  lord  president  of 
Wales,  and  privy  councillor.  Though  active 
on  the  King's  side,  he  seems  to  have  had  many 
friends  among  the  Parliamentarians,  so  that 
after  the  battle  of  Marston  Moor  he  was  able 


68  THE   LIFE    OF    JEREMY    TAYLOR. 

to  secure  his  estates  from  confiscation.  This 
gentleman  lived  on  his  estate  of  Golden  Grove 
in  the  parish  in  which  Dr.  Taylor  now  resided. 
The  region,  though  now  deprived  to  some  ex 
tent  of  the  fine  woods  which  then  graced  the 
landscape,  is  still  celebrated  for  its  romantic 
beauty.  It  is  watered  by  the  Towy,  a  stream 
famed  in  the  far  back  days  of  King  Arthur 
and  his  knights,  as  the  haunt  of  Merlin,  the 
great  enchanter.  To  the  north  of  Golden 
Grove,  a  mile  and  a  half  distant,  stands  Dyne- 
vor  Castle,  the  seat  of  the  ancient  princes  of 
South  Wales,  surrounded  by  venerable  oaks. 
To  the  west,  three  miles  off,  in  full  view  of  the 
house,  Dryslwyn  Castle  surmounts  a  rocky 
eminence,  as  rugged  as  its  name,  and  Grongar 
Hill  rises  on  the  northwest,  a  mile  and  a  half 
from  the  mansion. 

An  English  poet  of  some  repute,  John  Dyer, 
has  described  the  scene  in  pleasing  verse. 


"Now  I  gain  the  mountain's  brow, 
What  a  landscape  lies  below  ! 
No  clouds,  no  vapors  intervene, 
But  the  gay,  the  open  scene 
Does  the  face  of  Nature  show, 
In  all  the  hues  of  heaven's  bow  ! 
And,  swelling  to  embrace  the  light, 
Spreads  around  beyond  the  sight. 


GO.  DEN    GROVE.  Otf 

Old  castles  on  the  cliffs  arise, 
Proudly  towering  in  the  skies ! 
Bushing  from  the  woods,  the  spires 
Seem  from  hence  ascending  fires ; 
Half  his  beams  Apollo  sheds 
On  the  yellow  mountain-heads ! 
Gilds  the  fleeces  of  the  flocks  ; 
And  glitters  on  the  broken  rocks  ! 

Below  me  trees  unnumber'd  rise, 
Beautiful  in  various  dyes  : 
The  gloomy  pine,  the  poplar  blue, 
The  yellow  beech,  the  sable  yew, 
The  slender  fir,  that  taper  grows, 
The  sturdy  oak  with  broad-spread  boughs  ; 
And  beyond,  the  purple  grove, 
Haunt  of  Phillis  and  of  love  ! 

Gaudy  as  the  opening  dawn, 
Lies  a  long  and  level  lawn, 
On  which  a  dark  hill,  steep  and  high, 
Holds  and  charms  the  wand'ring  eye ! 
Deep  are  his  feet  in  Towy's  flood, 
His  sides  are  clothed  with  waving  wood, 
And  ancient  towers  crown  his  brow, 
That  cast  an  awful  look  below." 

A  genial  hospitality  imparted  a  charm  to 
the  interior  of  Golden  Grove  akin  to  that  im 
pressed  by  Nature  on  its  external  features. 
The  mistress  of  the  mansion  was  one  well 
fitted  to  dispense  its  honors.  Frances,  coun 
tess  of  Carbery,  was  the  daughter  of  Sir  John 
Altham,  of  the  county  of  Hertford.  Her  kind 
ness,  with  that  of  her  husband,  to  Dr.  Taylor, 
has  secured  her  an  enduring  fame  from  the 


70  THE    LIFE    OF    JKltKMY    TAYLOR. 

splendid  eulogy  which  the  divine  but  a  few 
years  later  pronounced  over  her  grave. 

Under  these  fostering  influences  of  sympa 
thy  and  friendship,  of  domestic  happiness  and 
the  manifold  beauties  of  Nature,  Dr.  Taylor's 
mind  attained  its  highest  development.  It 
was  during  the  years  passed  near  Golden 
Grove  that  he  composed  and  published  the 
works  which  have  conferred  upon  him  his 
most  wide-spread  popularity.  It  was,  doubt 
less,  a  season  of  happiness,  despite  its  priva 
tions.  We  can  fortunately  trace  his  feelings 
through  several  passages  in  his  writings,  which, 
in  addition  to  their  autobiographical  interest, 
rank  among  the  most  eloquent  sentences  which 
his  pen  ever  traced. 

"  I  am  fallen,"  he  says  in  an  early  chapter 
of  his  Holy  Living,  "  into  the  hands  of  publi 
cans  and  sequestrators,  and  they  have  taken 
all  from  me ;  what  now  ?  Let  me  look  about 
me.  They  have  left  me  the  sun  and  moon, 
lire  and  water,  a  loving  wife,  and  many  friends 
to  pity  me,  and  some  to  relieve  me ;  and  I  can 
still  discourse,  and,  unless  I  list,  they  have  not 
taken  away  my  merry  countenance,  and  my 
cheerful  spirit,  and  a  good  conscience;  they 
have  still  left  me  the  providence  of  God,  and 


CAUSES    OF   JOY.  71 

all  the  promises  of  the  Gospel ;  and  my  reli 
gion,  and  my  hopes  of  heaven,  and  my  charity 
to  them,  too ;  and  still  I  sleep  and  digest,  I  eat 
and  drink,  I  read  and  meditate.  I  can  walk 
in  my  neighbor's  pleasant  fields,  and  see  the 
variety  of  natural  beauties,  and  delight  in  all 
that  in  which  God  delights — that  is,  in  virtue 
and  wisdom,  in  the  whole  creation,  and  in 
God  himself.  And  he  that  hath  so  many 
causes  of  joy,  and  so  great,  is  very  much  in 
love  with  sorrow  and  peevishness,  who  loses 
all  these  pleasures,  and  chooses  to  sit  down 
upon  his  little  handful  of  thorns.  Such  a  per 
son  were  fit  to  bear  E~ero  company  in  his  fu 
neral  sorrow  for  the  loss  of  one  of  Poppsea's 
hairs,  or  help  to  mourn  for  Lesbia's  sparrow ; 
and  because  he  loved  it,  he  deserves  to  starve 
in  the  midst  of  plenty,  and  to  want  comfort 
while  he  is  encircled  with  blessings." 

Dr.  Taylor  now  published  the  Apology  for 
Authorized  and  Set  Forms  of  Liturgy  against 
the  Pretence  of  the  Spirit,  an  enlargement  of 
a  volume  already  noticed.  It  was  soon  fol 
lowed  by  The  Life  of  Christ,  or  the  Great  Ex 
emplar.  This  work  consists  of  an  amplifica 
tion  of  the  narratives  of  the  Evangelists,  ac 
companied  by  reflections  upon  our  Saviour's 


72  THE    LIFE    OF    JEEEMY    TAYLOK. 

acts  and  words,  and  a  number  of  prayers.  He 
has  not  entered  upon  any  illustration  of  the 
manners  and  customs  of  the  time,  or  into  any 
examination  of  disputed  points  or  passages. 
He  has  exercised  so  little  of  a  critical  spirit,  as 
occasionally  to  introduce,  without  comment, 
incidents  not  found  in  the  JSTew  Testament, 
and  resting  only  upon  fanciful  legend.  His 
sole  object  was  to  produce,  so  far  as  his  exu 
berant  fancy  would  permit,  a  plain,  devotional 
work.  "  I  have  chosen,"  he  says  in  the  pref 
ace,  "  to  serve  the  purposes  of  religion  by  do 
ing  assistance  to  that  part  of  theology  which  is 
wholly  practical ;  that  which  makes  us  wiser, 
therefore,  because  it  makes  us  better." 

The  popularity  with  which  this  beautiful 
work  was  at  once  greeted,  a  popularity  which 
it  has  ever  since  retained,  may  have  influenced 
the  author  in  devoting  himself,  during  the 
three  years  passed  near  Golden  Grove,  to 
works  of  a  similar  character.  His  splendid 
eulogy,  "  A  Sermon  on  the  Death  of  the  Ex 
cellent  Lady  Carbery,"  next  followed.  This 
eloquent  discourse  was  delivered  at  the  funeral 
of  the  countess,  in  Llanfihangel  Aberbythic 
church. 

We  extract  a  portion  of  his  beautiful  tri- 


A   FEMALE   RELIGION.  Y3 

bute  to  one  who  appears  to  have  left  as  wife, 
mother,  and  friend,  an  example  of  no  common 
brilliancy. 

THE  COUNTESS  OF  CAEBERY. 

I  have  seen  a  female  religion  that  wholly 
dwelt  upon  the  face  and  tongue ;  that  like  a 
wanton  and  undressed  tree  spends  all  its  juice 
in  suckers  and  irregular  branches,  in  leaves 
and  gum,  and  after  all  such  goodly  outsides, 
you  should  never  eat  an  apple,  or  be  delighted 
with  the  beauties  or  the  perfumes  of  a  hopeful 
blossom.  But  the  religion  of  this  excellent 
lady  was  of  another  constitution ;  it  took  root 
downward  in  humility,  and  brought  forth  fruit 
upward  in  the  substantial  graces  of  a  Chris 
tian,  in  charity  and  justice,  in  chastity  and 
modesty,  in  fair  friendships  and  sweetness  of 
society :  she  had  not  very  much  of  the  forms 
and  outsides  of  godliness,  but  she  was  hugely 
careful  for  the  power  of  it,  for  the  moral,  es 
sential,  and  useful  parts;  such  which  would 
make  her  be,  not  seem  to  be,  religious. 
****** 

In  all  her  religion,  in  all  her  actions  of  re 
lation  towards  God,  she  had  a  strange  even 
ness  and  untroubled  passage,  sliding  towards 
7 


THE   LIFE    OF   JEREMY    TAYLOE. 

her  ocean  of  God  and  of  infinity  with  a  certain 
and  silent  motion.  So  have  I  seen  a  river, 
deep  and  smooth,  passing  with  a  still  foot 
and  sober  face,  and  paying  to  the  facus,  the 
great  exchequer  of  the  sea,  the  prince  of  all 
the  watery  bodies,  a  tribute  large  and  full: 
and  hard  by  it  a  little  brook  skipping  and 
making  a  noise  upon  its  unequal  and  neighbor 
bottom ;  and  after  all  its  talking  and  bragged 
motion,  it  paid  to  its  common  audit  no  more 
than  the  revenues  of  a  little  cloud,  or  a  con 
temptible  vessel:  so  have  I  sometimes  com 
pared  the  is»ues  of  her  religion  to  the  solemni 
ties  and  famed  outsides  of  another's  piety.  It 
dwelt  upon  her  spirit,  and  was  incorporated 
with  the  periodical  work  of  every  day:  she 
did  not  believe  that  religion  was  intended  to 
minister  to  fame  and  reputation,  but  to  pardon 
of  sins,  to  the  pleasure  of  God,  and  the  salva 
tion  of  souls.  For  religion  is  like  the  breath 
of  heaven ;  if  it  goes  abroad  into  the  open  air, 
it  scatters  and  dissolves  like  camphire ;  but  if 
it  enters  into  a  secret  hollowness,  into  a  close 
conveyance,  it  is  strong  and  mighty,  and  comes 
forth  with  vigor  and  great  effect  at  the  other 
end,  at  the  other  side  of  this  life,  in  the  days 
of  death  and  judgment. 


MODESTY   AND   MEKIT.  75 

The  other  appendage  of  her  religion,  which 
also  was  a  great  ornament  to  all  the  parts  of 
her  life,  was  a  rare  modesty  and  humility  of 
spirit,  a  confident  despising  and  undervaluing 
of  herself.  For  though  she  had  the  greatest 
judgment,  and  the  greatest  experience  of  things 
and  persons  that  I  ever  yet  knew  in  a  person 
of  her  youth,  and  sex,  and  circumstances  ;  yet, 
as  if  she  knew  nothing  of  it,  she  had  the  mean 
est  opinion  of  herself;  and  like  a  fair  taper, 
when  she  shined  to  all  the  room,  yet  round 
about  her  own  station  she  had  cast  a  shadow 
and  a  cloud,  and  she  shined  to  everybody  but 
herself. 

#$##*# 

Her  recreations  were  little  and  seldom,  her 
prayers  often,  her  reading  much  :  she  was  of  a 
most  noble  and  charitable  soul ;  a  great  lover 
of  honorable  actions,  and  as  great  a  despiser  of 
base  things;  hugely  loving  to  oblige  others, 
and  very  unwilling  to  be  in  arrear  to  any  upon 
the  stock  of  courtesies  and  liberality ;  so  free 
in  all  acts  of  favor,  that  she  would  not  stay  to 
hear  herself  thanked,  as  being  unwilling  that 
what  good  went  from  her  to  a  needful  or  an 
obliged  person  should  ever  return  to  her  again  : 
she  was  an  excellent  friend,  and  hugely  dear 


76       THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOK. 

to  very  many,  especially  to  the  best  and  most 
discerning  persons ;  to  all  that  conversed  with 
her  and  could  understand  her  great  worth  and 
sweetness. 

She  lived  as  we  all  should  live,  and  she  died 
as  I  fain  would  die.  *  *  And  as  now  in 
the  grave  it  shall  not  be  inquired  concerning 
her,  how  long  she  lived,  but  how  well,  so  to 
us  who  live  after  her,  to  suffer  a  longer  calam 
ity,  it  may  be  some  ease  to  our  sorrows,  and 
some  guide  to  our  lives,  and  some  security 
to  our  conditions,  to  consider  that  God  hath 
brought  the  piety  of  a  young  lady  to  the  early 
rewards  of  a  never-ceasing  and  never-dying 
eternity  of  glory :  and  we  also,  if  we  live  as 
she  did,  shall  partake  of  the  same  glories ;  not 
only  having  the  honor  of  a  good  name,  and  a 
dear  and  honored  memory,  but  the  glories  of 
these  glories,  the  end  of  all  excellent  labors, 
and  all  prudent  counsels,  and  all  holy  religion, 
even  the  salvation  of  our  souls,  in  that  day 
when  all  the  saints,  and  among  them  this  ex 
cellent  woman,  shall  be  shown  to  all  the  world 
to  have  done  more,  and  more  excellent  things, 
than  we  know  of,  or  can  describe. 


CHAPTEE  YIL 

HOLY     LIYING     AND     DYING — DEATH — SUNEISE — SICKNESS 

AND    SUBMISSION — SEEMONS — JOY    IN   HEAVEN PRAYER 

MARRIAGE THE     TRIUMPH      OF     CHRISTIANITY PAR 
ENTS. 

THE  Rule  and  Exercise  of  Holy  Living  next 
appeared.  It  was  followed  by  a  second 
part,  Holy  Dying,  in  1651.  The  two  have  al 
ways  held  a  prominent  place  among  works  de 
signed  to  aid  our  conduct  in  life  and  prepare 
us  for  death.  The  first  part  consists  of  a  series 
of  essays  on  Charity,  Justice,  and  Religion, 
following  out  these  topics  through  various  sub 
divisions,  and  accompanying  all  by  brief  coun 
sels  and  prayers.  The  second  part  opens  with 
reflections  upon  the  shortness  and  uncertainty 
of  life,  passing  from  these  it  considers  the  trials 
and  duties-  incident  to  sickness  and  the  last 
hours  of  life.  The  style  is  uniformly  eloquent 
and  impressive.  Our  extracts  are  taken  from 
the  Holy  Dying. 

DEATH. 

All  the  succession  of  time,  all  the  changes 


78       THE  LIFE  OF  JEKEMY  TAYLOR. 

in  nature,  all  the  varieties  of  light  and  dark 
ness,  the  thousand  thousands  of  accidents  in  the 
world,  and  every  contingency  to  every  man, 
and  to  every  creature,  doth  preach  our  funeral 
sermon,  and  calls  us  to  look  and  see  how  the 
old  sexton  Time  throws  up  the  earth  and  digs 
a  grave,  where  we  must  lay  our  sins  or  our 
sorrows,  and  sow  our  bodies  till  they  rise  again 
in  a  fair  or  in  an  intolerable  eternity. 

-x-  #  *  *  #  * 

Thus  death  reigns  in  all  the  portions  of  our 
time.  The  Autumn  with  its  fruits  provides 
disorders  for  us,  and  the  Winter's  cold  turns 
them  into  sharp  diseases,  and  the  Spring 
brings  flowers  to  strew  our  hearse,  and  the 
Summer  gives  green  turf  and  brambles  to 
bind  upon  our  graves.  Calentures  and  surfeit, 
cold  and  agues,  are  the  four  quarters  of  the 
year,  and  all  minister  to  Death ;  and  you  can 
go  no  whither,  but  you  tread  upon  a  dead 
man's  bones. 

The  wild  fellow  in  Petronius,  that  escaped 
upon  a  broken  table  from  the  furies  of  a  ship 
wreck,  as  he  was  sunning  himself  upon  the 
rocky  shore,  espied  a  man  rolled  upon  his 
floating  bed  of  waves,  ballasted  with  sand  in 
the  folds  of  his  garment,  and  carried  by  his 


SHIPWEECK. 


civil  enemy,  the  sea,  towards  the  shore  to  find 
a    grave:     and  it   cast  him   into   some    sad 
thoughts  ;  that  peradventure  this  man's  wife 
in  some  part  of  the  Continent,  safe  and  warm, 
looks  next  month  for  the  good  man's  return  ; 
or  it  may  be  his  son  knows  nothing  of  the  tem 
pest  ;  or  his  father  thinks  of  that  affectionate 
kiss  which  still  is  warm  upon  the  good  old 
man's  cheek  ever  since  he  took  a  kind  fare 
well  ;   and  he  weeps  with  joy,  to  think  how 
blessed  he  shall  be  when  his  beloved  boy  re 
turns    into    the   circle   of    his   father's   arms. 
These  are  the  thoughts  of  mortals  ;  this  is  the 
end  and  sum  of  all  their  designs  :  a  dark  night 
and  an  ill  guide,  a  boisterous  sea  and  a  broken 
cable,  a  hard  rock  and  a  rough  wind,  dashed 
in  pieces  the  fortune  of  a  whole  family  ;  and 
they  that  shall  weep  loudest  for  the  accident, 
are  not  yet  entered  into  the  storm  and  yet 
have  suffered  shipwreck.     Then  looking  upon 
the  carcass,  he  knew  it,  and  found  it  to  be  the 
master  of  the  ship,  who  the  day  before  cast  up 
the  accounts  of  his  patrimony  and  his  trade, 
and  named  the  day  when  he  thought  to  be  at 
home  :  see  how  the  man  swims  who  was  so  an 
gry  two  days  since  ;  his  passions  are  becalmed 
with  the  storm,  his  accounts  cast  up,  his  cares 


80       THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOR. 

at  an  end,  his  voyage  done,  and  his  gains  are 
the  strange  events  of  death,  which  whether 
they  be  good  or  evil,  the  men  that  are  alive 
seldom  trouble  themselves  concerning  the  in 
terests  of  the  dead. 

SUNRISE. 

But  as  when  the  sun  approaches  towards  the 
gates  of  the  morning,  he  first  opens  a  little  eye 
of  heaven,  and  sends  away  the  spirits  of  dark 
ness,  and  gives  light  to  a  cock,  and  calls  up 
the  lark  to  matins,  and  by  and  by  gilds  the 
fringes  of  a  cloud,  and  peeps  over  the  east 
ern  hills,  thrusting  out  his  golden  horns,  like 
those  which  decked  the  brows  of  Moses  when 
he  was  forced  to  wear  a  veil,  because  himself 
had  seen  the  face  of  God ;  and  still,  while  a 
man  tells  the  story,  the  sun  gets  up  higher,  till 
he  shows  a  fair  face  and  a  full  light,  and  then 
he  shines  one  whole  day,  under  a  cloud  often, 
and  sometimes  weeping  great  and  little  show 
ers,  and  sets  quickly :  so  is  a  man's  reason  and 
his  life. 

FITNESS. 

No  man  will  hire  a  general  to  cut  wood,  or 
shake  hay  with  a  sceptre,  or  spend  his  soul 
and  all  his  faculties  upon  the  purchase  of  a 


SKRMONS.  81 

cockle-shell ;  but  lie  will  fit  instruments  to  the 
dignity  and  exigence  of  the  design. 

SICKNESS  AND  SUBMISSION. 

So  have  I  known  the  boisterous  north  wind 
pass  through  the  yielding  air,  which  opened 
its  bosom,  and  appeased  its  violence  by  enter 
taining  it  with  easy  compliance  in  all  the  re 
gions  of  its  reception :  but  when  the  same 
breath  of  Heaven  hath  been  checked  with  the 
stiffness  of  a  tower,  or  the  united  strength  of  a 
wood,  it  grew  mighty,  and  dwelt  there,  and 
made  the  highest  branches  stoop,  and  make  a 
smooth  path  for  it  on  the  top  of  all  its  glories. 
So  is  sickness  and  so  is  the  grace  of  God. 

Dr.  Taylor's  first  collection  of  published  ser 
mons,  twenty-seven  in  number,  for  the  sum 
mer  half-year,  was  published  in  1651.  A  sec 
ond  volume,  containing  twenty-five  more,  for 
the  winter  half-year,  followed  two  years  after. 
The  collection  bears  the  Greek  title  Eniautos. 
No  order,  either  of  adaptation  to  the  ritual 
year,  or  any  series  of  topics  appears  in  the  sub- 
jects.  "The  special  design  of  the  whole,"  he 
states  in  the  Dedication  to  the  Earl  of  Carbery, 
"is  to  describe  the  greater  lines  of  duty,  by 


82        THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOK. 

special  arguments.     *     *     *     No  man  ought 
to  be  offended  that  sermons  are  not  like  cu 
rious  inquiries  after  new  nothings,  but  pursu 
ances   of  old   truths."     The  Dedication    also 
states  that  the  sermons  "  were  first  presented 
to  God  in  the  ministeries  of  Lord  Carbery's 
family."     The  congregation,  with  the  addition 
of  guests,  and  of  the  neighboring  country  peo 
ple,  but  a  portion  of  whom  it  is  to  be  presum 
ed,  in  a  "Welsh  district,  understood  English, 
could  not  have  been  large.     The  sermons  are 
long,  several  being  divided  into  three  and  four 
discourses,  and  are  plentifully  sprinkled  with 
quotations  in  Greek  and  Latin.     They  abound 
in  noble  bursts  of  oratory  and  fine  poetical 
imagery. 

"We  have  drawn  from  the  collection  of  these 
discourses,  in  as  brief  limits  as  justice  to  our 
object  would  permit,  some  of  their  most  char 
acteristic  passages. 

JOY  IN   HEAVEN. 

Every  sinner  that  repents  causes  joy  to 
Christ,  and  the  joy  is  so  great  that  it  runs  over 
and  wets  the  fair  brows  and  beauteous  locks  of 
cherubim  and  seraphim,  and  all  the  angels 
have  a  part  of  that  banquet. 

Christ's  Advent  to  Judgment. 


THE    LARK    1USING.  83 


PRAYER. 

Prayer  is  the  peace  of  our  spirit,  the  still 
ness  of  our  thoughts,  the  evenness  of  recol 
lection,  the  seat  of  meditation,  the  rest  of  our 
cares,  and  the  calm  of  our  tempest ;  prayer  is 
the  issue  of  a  quiet  mind,  of  untroubled 
thoughts,  it  is  the  daughter  of  Charity,  and 
the  sister  of  meekness ;  and  he  that  prays  to 
God  with  an  angry,  that  is  with  a  troubled 
and  discomposed  spirit,  is  like  him  that  retires 
into  a  battle  to  meditate,  and  sets  up  his  closet 
in  the  out-quarters  of  an  army,  and  chooses  a 
frontier  garrison  to  be  wise  in.  Anger  is  a 
perfect  alienation  of  the  mind  from  prayer, 
and  therefore  is  contrary  to  that  attention, 
which  presents  our  prayers  in  a  right  line  to 
God.  For  so  have  I  seen  a  lark  rising  from 
his  bed  of  grass,  and  soaring  upwards,  singing 
as  he  rises,  and  hopes  to  get  to  heaven,  and 
climb  above  the  clouds ;  but  the  poor  bird 
was  beaten  back  with  the  loud  sighings  of  an 
eastern  wind,  and  his  motion  made  irregular 
and  inconstant,  descending  more  at  every 
breath  of  the  tempest,  than  it  could  recover  by 
the  libration  and  frequent  weighing  of  his 
wings  ;  till  the  little  creature  was  forced  to  sit 


84  THE    LIFE    OF    JEItEMY    TAYLOK. 

down  and  pant,  and  stay  till  the  storm  was 
over,  and  then  it  made  a  prosperous  flight,  and 
did  rise  and  sing  as  if  it  had  learned  music  and 
motion  from  an  angel,  as  he  passed  sometimes 
through  the  air  about  his  ministeries  here  be 
low.     So  is  the  prayer  of  a  good  man :  when 
his  affairs  have  required  business,  and  his  bus 
iness  was  matter  of  discipline,  and  his  dis 
cipline  was  to  pass  upon  a  sinning  person,  or 
had  a  design  of  charity,  his  duty  met  with  the 
infirmities  of  a  man,  and  anger  was  its  instru 
ment,   and  the  instrument  became   stronger 
than  the  prime  agent,  and  raised  a  tempest 
and  overruled  the  man ;  and  then  his  prayer 
was  broken,  and  his  thoughts  were  troubled, 
and  his  words  went  up  towards  a  cloud,  and 
his   thoughts  pulled  them   back   again,   and 
made  them  without  intention;  and  the  good 
man  sighs  for  his  infirmity,  but  must  be  con 
tent  to  lose  the  prayer,  and  he  must  recover  it, 
when  his  anger  is  removed,  and  his  spirit  is 
becalmed,  made  even  as  the  brow  of  Jesus, 
and  smooth  like  the  heart  of  God ;  and  then  it 
ascends  to  heaven  upon  the  wings  of  the  holy 
dove,  and  dwells  with  God,  till  it  returns  like 
the  useful  bee,  loaden  with  a  blessing  and  the 
dew  of  heaven.  The  Return  of  Prayers. 


THE   MAKRIAGE    KING.  85 

MARRIAGE. 

Here  is  the  proper  scene  of  piety,  and  pa 
tience,  of  the  duty  of  parents,  and  the  charity 
of  relatives ;  here  kindness  is  spread  abroad, 
and  love  is  united  and  made  firm  as  a  centre. 
Marriage  is  the  nursery  of  heaven  :  the  virgin 
sends  prayers  to  God,  but  she  carries  but  one 
soul  to  him  ;  but  the  state  of  marriage  fills  up 
the  numbers  of  the  elect,  and  hath  in  it  the 
labor  of  love,  and  the  delicacies  of  friendship, 
the  blessing  of  society,  and  the  union  of  hands 
and  hearts;  it  hath  in  it  less  of  beauty,  but 
more  of  safety,  than  the  single  life;  it  hath 
more  care  but  less  danger ;  it  is  more  merry, 
and  more  sad;  it  is  fuller  of  sorrows,  and 
fuller  of  joys  ;  it  lies  under  more  burdens,  but 
is  supported  by  all  the  strengths  of  love  and 
charity,  and  those  burdens  are  delightful. 
Marriage  is  the  mother  of  the  world,  and  pre 
serves  kingdoms,  and  fills  cities,  and  churches, 
and  heaven  itself.  Celibate,  like  the  %  in  the 
heart  of  an  apple,  dwells  in  a  perpetual  sweet 
ness,  but  sits  alone,  and  is  confounded,  and 
dies  in  singularity;  but  marriage,  like  the 
useful  bee,  builds  a  house  and  gathers  sweet 
ness  from  every  flower,  and  labors,  and  unites 
8 


86       THE  LIFE  OF  JEKEMY  TAYLOR. 

into  societies  and  republics,  and  sends  out  col 
onies,  and  feeds  the  world  with  delicacies,  and 
obeys  their  King,  and  keeps  order,  and  exer 
cises  many  virtues,  and  promotes  the  interest 
of  mankind,  and  is  that  state  of  good  things, 
to  which  God  hath  designated  the  present  con 
stitution  of  the  world. 

******* 
Every  little  thing  can  blast  an  infant  blos 
som  ;  and  the  breath  of  the  south  can  shake 
the  little  rings  of  the  vine,  when  first  they  be 
gin  to  curl,  like  the  locks  of  a  new  weaned 
boy ;  but  when,  by  age  and  consolidation,  they 
stiffen  into  the  hardness  of  a  stem,  and  have, 
by  the  warm  embraces  of  the  sun  and  the 
kisses  of  heaven,  brought  forth  their  clusters, 
they  can  endure  the  storms  of  the  north, 
and  the  loud  voices  of  a  tempest,  and  yet 
never  be  broken :  so  are  the  early  unions 
of  an  unfixed  marriage;  watchful  and  ob 
servant,  jealous  and  busy,  inquisitive  and 
careful,  and  apt  to  take  alarm  at  every  un 
kind  word. 

The  Marriage  Ring. 


HOLY   PARENTS.  87" 

THE  TRIUMPH  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

They  that  had  overcome  the  world  could 
not  strangle  Christianity.  But  so  have  I  seen 
the  sun,  with  a  little  ray  of  distant  light,  chal 
lenge  all  the  power  of  darkness ;  and,  without 
violence  and  noise  climbing  up  the  hill,  hath 
made  night  so  to  retire,  that  its  memory  was 
lost  in  the  joys  and  sprightfulness  of  the 
morning.  And  Christianity, — without  violence 
or  armies,  without  resistance  and  self-preser 
vation,  without  strength  or  human  eloquence, 
without  challenging  of  privileges  or  fighting 
against  tyranny,  without  alteration  of  govern 
ment  and  scandal  of  princes,  with  its  humility 
and  meekness,  with  toleration  and  patience, 
with  obedience  and  charity,  with  praying 
and  dying, — did  insensibly  turn  the  world 
into  Christian,  and  persecution  into  victory. 
The  Faith  and  Patience  of  the  Saints. 

PARENTS. 

In  parents  and  their  children,  there  is  so 
great  a  society  of  nature  and  of  manners,  of 
blessing  and  cursing,  that  an  evil  parent  can 
not  perish  in  a  single  death  :  and  holy  parents 
never  eat  their  meal  of  blessing  alone,  but 


88  THE   LIFE    OF   JEREMY   TAYLOR. 

they  make  the  room  shine  like  the  fire  of  holy 
sacrifice;  and  a  father's  or  a  mother's  piety 
makes  all  the  house  festival,  and  full  of  joy, 
from  generation  to  generation. 

The  Entail  of  Curses  cut  off. 


CHAPTEE  YIII. 

THE    REAL     PRESENCE — DR.     WARNER — GOLDEN     GROVE — 

HYMNS ADVENT  —  CHARITY  —  STATE    OF    RELIGION — 

IMPRISONMENT — JOHN  EVELYN — TJNUM    NECESSARIUM 

ORIGINAL   SIN — DR.  WARNER — AGAIN   IMPRISONED — DIS 
LIKE  TO  CONTROVERSY. 

IN  1654,  roused  by  the  triumphant  exulta 
tions  of  some  Koman  Catholic  writers  over 
the  low  condition  of  the  Church  of  England, 
Dr.  Taylor  again  engaged  in  controversial 
theology,  and  published  the  Real  Presence  and 
Spiritual  of  Christ  in  the  Blessed  Sacrament, 
proved  against  the  Doctrine  of  Transulstan- 
tiation.  It  was  dedicated  to  Dr.  Warner, 
bishop  of  Eochester,  who  appears  to  have 
spared  from  his  scanty  means,  during  the  sea 
son  of  deprivation,  towards  the  support  of  the 
author. 

In  1655,  Dr.  Taylor  expanded  a  brief  cate 
chism,  which  he  had  some  time  before  pre 
pared,  into  a  manual  of  instruction  and  devo 
tion,   called,   in  graceful   compliment  to  his 
8* 


90  THE   LIFE   OF   JEREMY   TAYLOE. 

pleasant  shelter,  The  Golden  Grove :  this  little 
work  is  divided  into  Credenda,  or  what  is  to 
be  believed,  including  a  catechism  and  expo 
sition  of  the  Creed ;  Agenda,  or  things  to  be 
done,  a  collection  of  rules  for  daily,  spiritual 
guidance ;  Postulanda,  or  things  to  be  prayed 
for,  a  paraphrase  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  a  Lit 
any,  and  daily  devotions.  These  are  fol 
lowed  by  Festival  Hymns,  the  only  poetical 
compositions  in  the  entire  range  of  the  au 
thor's  works.  The  hymns  are  twenty-two  in 
number.  They  are  irregular  in  versification, 
involved  in  style,  and,  after  the  fashion  of 
the  time,  abound  in  conceits.  The  cultivated 
taste  of  Bishop  Heber,  however,  pronounces 
them,  after  alluding  to  these  apparent  faults, 
"powerful,  affecting,  and  often  harmonious:" 
with  "  passages  of  which  Cowley  need  not  have 
been  ashamed ;  and  some  which  remind  us, 
not  disadvantageously,  of  the  corresponding 
productions  of  Milton." 

We  present  two  of  these  compositions. 


FESTIVAL    HYMNS.  01 


THE  SECOND  HYMN  FOB  ADVENT  ; 
OR,  CHRIST'S  COMING  TO  JERUSALEM  IN  TRIUMPH. 

Lord,  come  away  ; 
Why  dost  thou  stay  ? 
Thy  road  is  ready  ;  and  thy  paths,  made  straight, 

With  longing  expectation  wait 
The  consecration  of  thy  beauteous  feet. 
Eide  on  triumphantly ;  behold,  we  lay 
Our  lusts  and  proud  wills  in  thy  way. 
Hosannah !  welcome  to  our  hearts  ;  Lord,  here 
Thou  hast  a  temple,  too,  and  full  as  dear 
As  that  of  Sion  ;  and  as  full  of  sin  ; — 
Nothing  but  thieves  and  robbers  dwell  therein. 
Enter,  and  chase  them  forth,  and  cleanse  the  floor, 
Crucify  them,  that  they  may  never  more 

Profane  that  holy  place, 

Where  thou  hast  chose  to  set  thy  face. 
And  then  if  our  stiff  tongues  shall  be 
Mute  in  the  praises  of  thy  deity, 

The  stones  out  of  the  temple  wall 

Shall  cry  aloud  and  call 
Hosannah  !  and  thy  glorious  footsteps  greet.     Amen. 

A  PRAYER  FOR  CHARITY. 

Full  of  mercy,  full  of  love, 

Look  upon  us  from  above  ; 

Thou,  who  taught'st  the  blind  man's  night 

To  entertain  a  double  light, 

Thine  and  the  day's  (and  that  thine,  too)  ; 

The  lame  away  his  crutches  threw  ; 

The  parched  crust  of  leprosy 

Return'd  unto  its  infancy  ; 


92       THE  LIFE  OF  JKBKMY  TAYLOR. 

The  dumb  amazed  was  to  hear 
His  own  unchain'd  tongue  strike  his  ear; 
Thy  powerful  mercy  did  even  chase 
The  devil  from  his  usurp' d  place, 
Where  thou  thyself  shouldst  dwell,  not  he. 
Oh,  let  thy  love  our  pattern  be  ; 
Let  thy  mercy  teach  one  brother 
To  forgive  and  love  another ; 
.    That,  copying  thy  mercy  here, 
Thy  goodness  may  hereafter  rear 
Our  souls  unto  thy  glory,  when 
Our  dust  shall  cease  to  be  with  men.     Amen. 


In  the  address  "  To  the  Pious  and  Devout 
Reader,"  the  author  contrasts  the  condition  of 
religion  in  England  under  Episcopacy,  with 
that  of  his  date  of  writing,  much  to  the  disad 
vantage  of  the  latter.  "  The  people  are,"  he 
says,  "fallen  under  the  harrows  and  saws  of 
impertinent  and  ignorant  preachers,  who  think 
all  religion  is  a  sermon,  and  all  sermons  ought 
to  be  libels  against  truth  and  old  governors,— 
and  expound  chapters  that  the  meaning  may 
never  be  understood, — and  pray,  that  they 
may  be  thought  able  to  talk,  but  not  to  hold 
their  peace, — casting  not  to  obtain  any  thing 
but  wealth  and  victory,  power  and  plunder. 
And  the  people  have  reaped  the  fruits  apt  to 
grow  upon  such  crabstocks;  they  grow  idle 
and  false,  hypocrites  and  careless ;  they  deny 


JOIIX    KVELYX.  93 

themselves  nothing  that  is  pleasant ;  they  de 
spise  religion,  forget  government,  and  some 
never  think  of  heaven ;  and  they  that  do, 
think  to  go  thither  in  such  paths  which  all 
the  ages  of  the  Church  did  give  men  warn 
ing  of,  lest  they  should,  that  way,  go  to  the 
devil." 

For  this,  with  other  like  vigorous  free 
speech,  Dr.  Taylor  was  imprisoned.  His  con 
finement  does  not  appear  to  have  been  a 
long  one. 

On  the  sixteenth  of  April,  1654,  John  Eve 
lyn  records  in  his  diary  that  he  heard  Dr. 
Taylor  preach  in  London.  Mr.  Evelyn  was  a 
gentleman  of  education  and  fortune  who  had 
recently  returned  from  an  extensive  foreign 
tour.  Although  an  earnest  royalist,  his  con 
duct  had  been  so  prudent,  and  his  character 
was  so  respected,  that  he  lived  unmolested  by 
the  now  dominant  party.  On  the  eighteenth 
of  March,  we  find  Mr.  Evelyn  again  one  of  Dr. 
Taylor's  congregation ;  and,  on  the  thirty-first 
of  the  same  month,  visiting  him  "to  confer 
with  him  about  some  spiritual  matters,  using 
him  thenceforward  as  his  ghostly  father."  Mr. 
Evelyn  continued  to  be  Dr.  Taylor's  firm  friend 
during  the  troubles  of  the  Commonwealth,  and 


94:  THE    LIFIO    OF    JKKEMY    TAYLOE. 

the  remainder  of  his  career, — often  aiding  him 
liberally  from  his  private  fortune. 

Dr.  Taylor's  next  work,  "  Unum  Necessar 
rium,  or  the  Doctrine  and  Practice  of  Re 
pentance  ;  describing  the  Necessity  and  Meas 
ures  of  a  Strict,  a  Holy,  and  a  Christian  Life, 
and  Rescued  from  Popular  Errors,"  involved 
him  in  controversy  by  his  denial,  in  the  course 
of  the  volume,  that  mankind  were  subject  to 
condemnation  on  account  of  their  original  sin 
derived  from  Adam. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  Dr.  Taylor's  views 
upon  this  subject  were  erroneous.  In  his  anx 
iety  to  avoid  a  belief  which  he  charges  upon 
the  Calvinists  of  that  day,  declaring  the  con 
dition  of  infants  dying  unbaptized  to  be  hope 
less,  he  has  fallen  into  an  opposite  error  in 
asserting  that  our  inheritance  from  Adam  is 
one  of  temporal  evil  only.  According  to  his 
theory,  a  human  being  now  enters  the  world 
as  Adam  did,  pure  and  sinless.  Our  first 
parent,  he  affirms,  had  supernatural  aids  af 
forded  him,  by  which  he  maintained  his  inno 
cence  until  his  disobedience  and  fall,  when 
these  aids  were  withdrawn,  nor  have  they 
been  vouchsafed  to  his  posterity. 

It  seems  strange  that  an  intellect  so  power- 


ORIGINAL    SIN.  95 

ful  as  Dr.  Taylor's  did  not  perceive  that  this 
theory  affords  no  solution  to  the  difficulty. 
The  loss  of  this  "  supernatural  aid"  was  cer 
tainly  the  same  in  effect  to  Adam  and  his 
posterity  as  his  fall  from  innocence.  It  is  but 
a  repetition,  in  a  complicated  form,  of  the 
simple  old  adage,  that 

In  Adam's  fall 
We  sinned  all. 

The  remainder  of  the  work  is  in  harmony 
with  the  general  tone  of  his  writings,  of  -a 
simple,  practical  character,  enforcing  the  ne 
cessity  of  repentance,  and  dwelling  with  his 
wonted  warmth  on  the  beauty  of  holiness. 
The  various  chapters  close  with  prayers  in 
harmony  with  their  subject-matter,  and  the 
general  tenor  of  the  whole  neutralizes  any  evil 
effects  which  his  speculations  might  occasion. 
No  one  ever  held  more  humble  views  of  him 
self,  or  of  his  fellow-men,  than  Jeremy  Taylor. 
No  one  has  more  earnestly  confessed  the  need 
of  the  Atonement,  or  expressed  a  more  fervent 
gratitude  for  that  greatest  of  blessings,  than 
he  has  impressed  upon  his  writings.  His 
eagerness  "to  vindicate  the  ways  of  God  to 
man,"  proceeded  from  his  ardent  piety ;  but 


96        THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOR. 

like  many  examples  of  similar  eagerness,  led 
him  beyond  the  sober  limits  of  reverence  and 
common-sense.  We  are  placed  in  this  world 
to  struggle  with  sin,  not  to  discuss  its  origin. 

The  preface  to  the  Doctrine  of  Repentance 
is  addressed  to  the  Bishops  of  Salisbury  and 
Rochester.  The  prelates  could  not  allow  doc 
trines  at  variance  with  those  of  the  Articles  of 
the  Church  to  pass  unrebuked.  The  Bishop 
of  Rochester,  Dr.  Warner,  addressed  a  letter 
to  the  author  on  the  subject. 

It  was  dated  July  28th,  but  was  not  received 
until  September  the  llth.  The  delay  was 
owing  to  a  second  imprisonment,  which  Dr. 
Taylor  was  now  undergoing,  in  Chepstow 
Castle,  in  consequence  of  a  royalist  insurrec 
tion  at  Salisbury,  which,  although  he  took  no 
part  in  the  affair,  rendered  him  an  object  of 
suspicion.  In  his  reply  to  the  Bishop  he  ex 
plains  this  delay,  adding  a  passage  which 
throws  some  light  upon  his  condition.  "I 
have  now,"  he  says,  "  that  liberty  that  I  can 
receive  any  letters,  and  send  any ;  for  the  gen: 
tlemen  under  whose  custody  I  am,  as  they  are 
careful  of  their  charges,  so  they  are  civil  to 
my  person."  A  second  letter,  in  which  he 
requests  the  Bishop  to  revise  a  Further  Expli- 


DISLIKE    OF   CONTROVERSY.  97 

cation  of  the  Doctrine  of  Original  /Sin,  a  tract 
prepared  by  him  during  his  imprisonment,  in 
reply  to  his  theological  opponents,  dated  Man- 
dinam,  November  17,  1655,  shows  that  his 
confinement  was  of  brief  duration.  He  ex 
presses  the  hope  that  this  second  treatise  may 
so  explain  the  first  as  to  "  give  satisfaction  to 
the  Church  and  to  my  jealous  brethren;"  and 
enters  into  an  elaborate  examination  of  the 
Ninth  Article,  in  an  endeavor  to  show  that 
his  doctrines  were  not  in  conflict  with  its  dec 
larations.  The  Bishop  was  unconvinced,  and 
refused  to  revise  the  tract,  which  soon  after 
appeared  in  a  second  edition  of  the  original 
publication.  It  now  forms  the  seventh  chap 
ter  of  the  work. 

In  this  letter  Dr.  Taylor  also  expresses  a  de 
sire  to  avoid  controversy,  that  he  may  devote 
his  entire  attention  to  a  great  work  upon  which 
he  was  engaged.  "  I  am  very  desirous  to  be 
permitted  quietly  to  continue  my  studies,"  he 
writes,  "that  I  may  seasonably  publish  the 
first  three  books  of  my  Oases  of  Conscience, 
which  I  am  now  preparing  for  the  press, 
and  by  which,  as  I  hope  to  serve  God  and 
the  Church,  so  I  do  design  to  do  some  hon 
or  to  your  lordship,  to  whose  charity  and 
9 


98       THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOK. 

nobleness  I  and  my  relatives   are   so  much 
obliged." 

In  a  letter  dated  November  21,  he  alludes 
with  some  natural  feeling  to  the  reception  of 
his  Unum  Necessarium.  "  I  am  well  pleased 
that  you  have  read  over  my  last  book;  and 
give  God  thanks  that  I  have  reason  to  believe 
that  it  is  accepted  by  God,  and  by  some  good 
men.  As  for  the  censure  of  unconsenting  per 
sons,  I  expected  it,  and  hope  that  themselves 
will  be  their  own  reprover,  and  truth  will  be 
assisted  by  God,  and  shall  prevail,  when  all 
noises  and  prejudices  shall  be  ashamed.  My 
comfort  is,  that  I  have  the  honor  to  be  an  ad 
vocate  for  God's  justice  and  goodness,  and  that 
the  consequent  of  my  doctrine  is,  that  men 
may  speak  honor  of  God,  and  meanly  of  them 
selves.  But  I  have  also  this  last  week  sent  up 
some  papers,  in  which  I  make  it  appear  that 
the  doctrine  which  I  now  have  published  was 
taught  by  the  fathers  within  the  first  four  hun 
dred  years ;  and  have  vindicated  it  both  from 
novelty  and  singularity.  I  have  also  prepared 
some  other  papers  concerning  this  question, 
which  I  once  had  some  thoughts  to  have  pub 
lished.  But  what  I  have  already  said,  and 
now  further  explicated  and  justified,  I  hope 


LOVE   OF   PEACE.  99 

may  be  sufficient  to  satisfy  pious  and  prudent 
persons,  who  do  not  love  to  go  qua  itur,  but 
qua  eundum  est"* 

This  letter  shows  that  its  writer  had  devoted 
earnest  thought  and  study  to  the  subject  upon 
which  he  had  written,  and  had  convinced  him 
self  that  he  was  in  the  right.  It  also  displays 
his  willingness  to  forbear  further  discussion,  in 
his  love  for  the  peace  and  quiet  of  the  Church. 

0  Not  the  way  men  go,  but  the  way  they  should  go. 


CHAPTEK  IX. 

WANTS  OF  CHURCHMEN — LETTEE8  TO  MR.  EVELYN — PERSE 
CUTION VISIT  TO  LONDON BERKELEY,  BOYLE,  AND  WIL- 

KINS — SAY'S  COURT — ENJOYMENT  OF  PROSPERITY — MON 
SIEUR  LE  FRANC — A  POOR  BISHOP — MR.  THURLAND RES 
IDENCE  IN  LONDON — DEATH  OF  A  CHILD — SACRED  POE 
TRY DIES  IR^E — DOMESTIC  AFFLICTION. 

WE  find,  from  a  letter  by  Dr.  Taylor,  that 
his  friend  Mr.  Evelyn  had  urged  him  to 
prepare  some  work  adapted  to  the  wants  of 
Episcopalians  during  -their  deprivation  of  pub 
lic  worship  and  sacraments,  under  the  stern 
rule  of  Cromwell.  The  reply  is  eminently  de 
vout  and  judicious. 

"  Dear  Sir,"  he  writes,  "  I  perceive  by  your 
symptoms  how  the  spirits  of  pious  men  are 
affected  in  this  sad  catalysis:  it  is  an  evil 
time,  and  we  ought  not  to  hold  our  peace ; 
but  now  the  question  is, — who  shall  speak? 
Yet  I  am  highly  persuaded,  that,  to  good  men 
and  wise,  a  persecution  is  nothing  but  the 
changing  the  circumstances  of  religion,  and 
the  manner  of  the  forms  and  appendages  of  di- 


GOOD    OUT   OF   EVIL.  101 

vine  worship.  Public  or  private  is  all  one: 
the  first  hath  the  advantage  of  society,  the  sec 
ond  of  love.  There  is  a  warmth  and  light  in 
that,  there  is  a  heat  and  zeal  in  this ;  and  if 
every  person  that  can,  will  but  consider  con 
cerning  the  essentials  of  religion,  and  retain 
them  severally,  and  immure  them  as  well  as 
he  can  with  the  same  or  equivalent  ceremonies, 
I  know  no  difference  in  the  thing,  but  that  he 
shall  have  the  exercise,  and,  consequently,  the 
reward  of  other  graces,  for  which,  if  he  lives 
and  dies  in  prosperous  days,  he  shall  never  be 
crowned.  But  the  evils  are,  that  some  will  be 
tempted  to  quit  their  present  religion,  and 
some  to  take  a  worse,  and  some  to  take  none 
at  all.  It  is  a  true  and  sad  story ;  but  oportet 
esse  hcereses,  for  so  they  that  are  faithful  shall 
be  known ;  and  I  am  sure  He  that  hath  prom 
ised  to  bring  good  out  of  evil,  and  that  all 
things  shall  co-operate  to  the  good  of  them 
that  fear  God,  will  verify  it  concerning  perse 
cution." 

He  replies  to  an  invitation  to  the  metropo 
lis  :  "  Sir,  I  know  not  when  I  shall  be  able  to 
come  to  London  ;  for  our  being  stripped  of  the 
little  relics  of  our  fortune  remaining  after  the 
shipwreck,  leaves  not  cordage  nor  sails  suffi- 
9* 


102      THE  LIFE  OF  JEKEMY  TAYLOR. 

cient  to  bear  me  thither.  But  I  hope  to  be 
able  to  commit  to  the  press  my  first  books  of 
Conscience  by  Easter  time ;  and  then,  if  I  be 
able  to  get  up,  I  shall  be  glad  to  wait  upon 
you ;  of  whose  good  I  am  not  more  solicitous 
than  I  am  joyful  that  you  so  carefully  provide 
for  it  in  your  best  interest." 

Dr.  Taylor  appears  to  have  been  soon  after 
in  a  better  financial  position  than  he  anticipa 
ted,  as  we  find  him  visiting  London,  and  on 
the  12th  of  April  dining  with  Mr.  Evelyn  at 
his  country-seat  of  Say's  Court,  near  the  city. 
The  guests  were  eminent  men,  Berkeley, 
Boyle,  and  "Wilkins.  Berkeley,  to  whom  the 
severe  and  critical  pen  of  Pope  has  assigned 
"  every  virtue  under  heaven,"  was  then  earn 
ing  his  claim  to  the  gratitude  of  both  hemi 
spheres  by  his  efforts  to  obtain  the  endowment 
of  his  college  in  the  Bermudas. 

Robert  Boyle  was  one  of  the  most  accom 
plished  scholars  and  devout  churchmen  of  his 
day.* 

"  "Wilkins,"  says  Mr.  Willmott,  "  was  a  per 
son  of  singular  ingenuity,  and  deserves  to  be  re 
membered  as  one  of  the  earliest  English  schol- 

»  Life  of  Bishop  Ken. 


SCIENCE    AND   WIT. 


103 


ars  who  endeavored  to  make  science  popular 
and  practical.  His  fancy,  however,  outran 
his  judgment  His  theory  of  a  passage  to  the 
moon,  provoked  the  smile  of  his  contempora 
ries,  and  subsequently  caught  the  eye  of  Pope- 

'  The  head  that  turns  at  superlunar  things, 
Poised  on  a  tail,  may  steer  on  Wilkins'  wings.7 

"His  retort  to  the  Duchess  of  Newcastle 
would    alone    have    authorized    a    claim    to 
conversational   eminence.     <  Where,'  inquired 
the  rhyming  lady,  <  am  I  to  find  a  place  to 
bait,  if  I  try  the  journey   to   that  planet? 
'  Madam,'  replied  the  discoverer,  <  of  all  the 
people  in  the  world,  I  least  expected  that  ques 
tion  from  you,  who  have  built  so  many  castles 
in  the  air,  that  you  may  lie  every  night  in  one 
of  your  own.'     Wilkins  appeals  to  our  sympa 
thy  upon  stronger  ground  than  his  science  or 
wit  would  furnish.     Eelated  to  Cromwell  by  a 
marriage  with  his  sister,  he  employed  his  in 
fluence   on  behalf    of   persecuted  piety   and 
learning,  and  the  preservation  of  the  universi 
ties  has  been  attributed  to  his  energetic  remon 
strances."  ' 

, — 

Life  of  Taylor,  p.  154. 


104      THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOR. 

Four  days  later  the  divine  addressed  the  fol 
lowing  letter  of  thanks  and  advice  to  his  enter 
tainer.  It  is  wise,  dignified,  and  affectionate, 
the  solemn  duties  of  the  clergyman  tempering 
the  admiration  of  the  scholar.  Mr.  Evelyn 
was  one  of  the  most  celebrated  virtuosi  of  his 
time.  He  had  collected  during  his  long  tour 
a  variety  of  interesting  objects,  and  was  con 
stantly  adding  to  their  number. 

April  16,  1656. 

"  HONORED  AND  DEAR  SIR  : 

"  I  hope  your  servant  brought  my  apology 
with  him,  and  that  I  already  am  pardoned,  or 
excused  in  your  thoughts,  that  I  did  not  return 
an  answer  yesterday  to  your  friendly  letter. 
Sir,  I  did  believe  myself  so  very  much  bound 
to  you  for  your  so  kind,  so  friendly  reception 
of  me  in  your  Tusculanum,  that  I  had  some 
little  wonder  upon  me  when  I  saw  you  making 
excuses  that  it  was  no  better.  Sir,  I  came  to 
see  you  and  your  lady,  and  am  highly  pleased 
that  I  did  so,  and  found  all  your  circumstances 
to  be  a  heap  and  union  of  blessings.  But  I 
have  not  either  so  great  a  fancy  and  opinion 
of  the  prettiness  of  your  abode,  or  so  low  an 
opinion  of  your  prudence  and  piety,  as  to 


THE   USES   OF   PEOSPEEITT.  105 

think  you  can  be  any  ways  transported  with 
them.  I  know  the  pleasure  of  them  is  gone 
off  from  their  height  before  one  month's  pos 
session  ;  and  that  strangers,  and  seldom  seers, 
feel  the  beauty  of  them  more  than  you  who 
dwell  with  them.  I  am  pleased  indeed  at  the 
order  and  cleanness  of  all  your  outward  things ; 
and  look  upon  you  not  only  as  a  person,  by 
way  of  thankfulness  to  God  for  his  mercies 
and  goodness  to  you,  specially  obliged  to  a 
great  measure  of  piety,  but  also  as  one  who, 
being  freed  in  great  degree  from  secular  cares 
and  impediments,  can,  without  excuse  and  al 
lay,  wholly  intend  what  you  so  passionately 
desire,  the  service  of  God.  But,  now  I  am 
considering  yours,  and  enumerating  my  own 
pleasures,  I  cannot  but  add,  that,  though  I 
could  not  choose  but  be  delighted  by  seeing 
all  about  you,  yet  my  delices  were  really  in 
seeing  you  severe  and  unconcerned  in  these 
things,  and  now  in  finding  your  affections 
wholly  a  stranger  to  them,  and  to  communi 
cate  with  them  no  portion  of  your  passion  but 
such  as  is  necessary  to  him  that  uses  them  or 
receives  their  ministries." 

A  few  days  after,  on  the  6th  of  May,  Mr. 
Evelyn  records  in  his  diary,  bringing  "  Mon- 


106      THE  LIFE  OF  JEKEMY  TAYLOK. 

sieur  le  Franc,  a  young  French  Sorbonist"*  to 
converse  with  Dr.  Taylor.  On  the  following 
day  he  prevailed  on  the  Doctor,  who  had  been 
much  pleased  with  the  young  man,  to  present 
him  to  the  Bishop.  The  candidate  was  or 
dained  deacon  and  priest  on  the  same  day  by 
a  prelate  whom  Mr.  Evelyn  calls  the  Bishop 
of  Meath.  As  that  see  was  vacant  from  the 
death  of  the  last  incumbent,  Dr.  Anthony 
Martin,  until  after  the  Restoration,  he  is 
doubtless  in  error  in  respect  to  the  title.  He 
mentions  that  he  "  paid  the  fees  to  his  lord 
ship,  who  was  very  poor  and  in  great  want. 
To  that  necessity  were  our  clergy  reduced !" 

Dr.  Taylor  remained  but  a  short  time  in 
London,  as  we  find  him,  on  the  19th  of  July, 
writing  from  Wales  to  his  friend  Mr.  Evelyn. 
The  latter  appears  to  have  communicated  an 
offer  from  Mr.  Edward  Thurland  to  furnish 
him  with  an  asylum  in  London.  Mr.,  after 
wards  Sir  Edward  Thurland,  and  one  of  the 
barons  of  the  Exchequer,  was  a  celebrated  law 
yer,  and  author  of  a  work  on  Prayer,  highly 
commended  by  Mr.  Evelyn  in  a  letter  to  the 

°  A  student  of  the  celebrated  college,  the  Sorbonne,  in 
Paris. 


CITY   RESIDENCE.  107 

writer,  after  a  perusal  of  the  manuscript.  In 
this  letter,  Dr.  Taylor  confesses  that  he  looks 
with  a  student's  wistful  eye  to  the  metropolis. 
"  Truly,  sir,"  he  says,  "  I  do  continue  in  my 
desires  to  settle  about  London,  and  am  only 
hindered  by  my  res  angusta  domi  •  but  hope 
in  God's  goodness  that  he  will  create  to  me 
such  advantages  as  may  make  it  possible ;  and 
when  I  am  there,  I  shall  expect  the  daily  is 
sues  of  the  Divine  Providence  to  make  all 
things  else  well,  because  I  am  much  persuaded 
that,  by  my  abode  in  the  voisinage  of  London, 
I  may  receive  advantages  of  society  and  books 
to  enable  me  better  to  serve  God  and  the  in 
terest  of  souls.  I  have  no  other  design  but  it, 
and  I  hope  God  will  second  it  with  his  bless 
ing.  Sir,  I  desire  you  to  present  my  thanks 
and  service  to  Mr.  Thurland  ;  his  society  were 
argument  enough  to  make  me  desire  a  dwell 
ing  thereabouts,  but  his  other  kindnesses  will 
make  it  possible.  I  would  not  be  troublesome, 
serviceable  I  would  fain  be,  useful,  and  desira 
ble  ;  and  I  will  endeavor  it,  if  I  come." 

The  letter  closes  with  a  beautiful  passage  in 
allusion  to  a  recent  domestic  bereavement. 

"  Dear  Sir,  I  am  in  some  little  disorder  by 
reason  of  the  death  of  a  little  child  of  mine,  a 


108      THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOE. 

boy  that  lately  made  us^very  glad;  but  now 
he  rejoices  in  his  little  orb,  while  we  think,  and 
sigh,  and  long  to  be  as  safe  as  he  is." 

In  another  letter  he  expresses  a  wish,  often 
felt  by  many  friends  of  the  English  Church. 
After  congratulating  his  friend  Evelyn  upon 
his  translation  of  Lucretius,  then  just  publish 
ed,  he  continues :  "  It  is  a  thousand  pities  but 
our  English  tongue  should  be  enriched  with  a 
translation  of  all  the  sacred  hymns  which  are 
respersed  in  all  the  rituals  and  church  books. 
I  was  thinking  to  have  begged  of  you  a  trans 
lation  of  that  well-known  hymn,  i  Dies  'irce, 
dies  ilia,  solvet  seclum  in  favillaj  which,  if  it 
were  a  little  changed,  would  be  an  excellent 
divine  song ;  but  I  am  not  willing  to  bring 
trouble  to  you :  only  it  is  a  thousand  times  to 
be  lamented  that  the  beaux  esprits  of  England 
do  not  think  divine  things  to  be  worthy  sub 
jects  for  their  poesy  and  spare  hours." 

The  "  beaux  esprits"  were  less  in  fault  than 
the  writer  charges.  Some  of  the  most  beauti 
ful  sacred  poetry  in  the  English  language  was 
written  by  his  contemporaries  or  immediate 
predecessors ;  and  it  was  but  a  few  years  be 
fore,  that  the  fine  hymn  he  mentions  had  been 
translated,  with  a  success  not  surpassed  by 


NEW    BEREAVEMENTS.  109 

many  subsequent  efforts,  by  the  poet  Crashaw. 
The  expression  of  this  desire  from  the  acknowl 
edged  master  of  poetical  imagery  and  melody 
in  devotional  prose,  deserves  to  rank  among 
the  most  interesting  and  curious  coincidences 
in  the  history  of  literature,  when  we  remember 
that  the  composition  of  Paradise  Lost  is  sup 
posed  to  have  been  commenced  in  the  same 
year.* 

Mr.  Evelyn  seems  to  have  determined  to 
follow  out  his  friend's  suggestion,  as  we  find 
Dr.  Taylor  remarking,  in  a  letter  dated  "  9ber. 
1656.  I  am  very  desirous  to  receive  the  '  dies 
irce,  dies  ilia]  of  your  translation ;  and  if  you 
have  not  yet  found  it,  upon  notice  of  it  from 
you,  I  will  transmit  a  copy  of  it." 

Dr.  Taylor's  house  was  soon  again  saddened 
by  the  loss  of  two  of  his  remaining  children  by 
his  second  marriage.  His  letter,  announcing 
the  event,  has  no  address,  but  is  supposed  from 
its  affectionate  tone  to  have  been  sent  to  Mr. 
Evelyn. 

"  I  have  passed  through  a  great  cloud  which 
hath  wetted  me  deeper  than  the  skin.  It  hath 
pleased  God  to  send  the  small-pox  and  fevers 

*  Willmott's  Life  of  Taylor,  p.  160. 
10 


110      THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOR. 

among  my  children;  and  I  have,  since  I  re 
ceived  your  last,  buried  two  sweet,  hopeful 
boys ;  and  have  now  but  one  son  left,  whom  I 
intend,  if  it  please  God,  to  bring  up  to  London 
before  Easter,  and  then  I  hope  to  wait  upon 
you,  and  by  your  sweet  conversation  and  other 
divertisements,  if  not  to  alleviate  my  sorrow, 
yet,  at  least,  to  entertain  myself  and  keep  me 
from  too  intense  and  actual  thinkings  of  my 
trouble.  ****** 
For  myself,  I  bless  God  I  have  observed  and 
felt  so  much  mercy  in  this  angry  dispensation 
of  God,  that  I  am  almost  transported,  I  am 
sure,  highly  pleased,  with  thinking  how  in 
finitely  sweet  his  mercies  are,  when  his  judg 
ments  are  so  gracious.  Sir,  there  are  many 
particulars  in  your  letter  which  I  would  fain 
have  answered ;  but,  still,  my  little  sadnesses 
intervene,  and  will  yet  suffer  me  to  write 
nothing  else,  but  that  I  beg  your  prayers,  and 
that  you  will  still  own  me  to  be,  dear  and 
honored  sir,  your  very  affectionate  friend,  and 
hearty  servant, 

"  JER.  TAYLOR. 

"Feb.  22,  1656-7." 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  writer  speaks  of 
"  but  one  son  left,"  when  we  know  by  other 


FAMILY   AFFAIRS.  Ill 

evidence  that  two  other  sons,  by  his  first  wife, 
both  lived  to  manhood.  It  is  probable  that 
these  now  resided  with  their  mother's  rela 
tives,  and  that  Dr.  Taylor  alluded  only  to  the 
family  gathered  under  his  own  roof. 


CHAPTER  X. 

REMOVAL  TO  LONDON  —  DETTS  JUSTIFIOATU  —  GATJLE  AND 
JEANES  —  CONTROVERSY  —  MR.  EVELYN^  BENEVOLENCE 
—  DR.  TAYLOR'S  ACKNOWLEDGMENT  —  COLLECTION  OF 
WORKS  -  TREATISE  ON  FRIENDSHIP  -  MRS.  PHILLIPS  — 
DR.  WEDDERBURNE  —  EPISCOPACY  IN  LONDON  -  BISHOP 
PEARSON  -  IMPRISONMENT  —  CONDOLENCE. 


rPHE  tradition  of  the  neighborhood  coincides 
JL  with  the  statement  of  the  Oxford  biogra 
pher,  Anthony  Wood,  that  Dr.  Taylor  left 
Wales  in  consequence  of  his  domestic  bereave 
ments,  and  removed  to  London,  where  he  of 
ficiated  privately  for  a  small  congregation  of 
Episcopalians.  His  mind  was  harassed  at  this 
period  of  sorrow  by  controversy.  He  had 
published,  in  1656,  "  Deus  Justificatus  ;  or,  A 
Vindication  of  the  Glory  of  the  Divine  At 
tributes,  in  the  Question  of  Original  Sin,"  ac 
companied  by  the  "  Explication"  already  men 
tioned,  dedicated  to  Bishop  Warner.  In  this 
he  reiterated  his  opinions  on  the  subject  of 
original  sin.  He  was  called  to  account  for 

<3 

these  by  two  Puritan  clergymen,  John  Gaule, 


II  EXE Y    JEANES.  113 

of  Stangliton,  Huntingdonshire,  who  published 
a  work  entitled  Sapientia  Jmtificata,  which 
Dr.  Taylor  never  noticed,  and  Henry  Jeanes, 
minister  of  Chedzoy  in  Somersetshire.  He  was 
drawn  into  a  correspondence  with  the  latter, 
through  a  common  friend,  and  became  grad 
ually  so  excited  as  to  lose  his  temper.  Mr. 
Jeanes  published  this  correspondence,  and  af 
terwards  returned  to  the  charge  in  a  treatise, 
published  in  1660,  to  which  Dr.  Taylor  made 
no  reply.  The  adversary  conducted  his  case 
with  ability.  He  had  been  a  contemporary  of 
Dr.  Taylor  at  Oxford,  where  he  was  celebrated 
for  his  opposition  to  the  Puritans.  In  1641, 
we  find  him  active  on  the  opposite  side.  He 
maintained  throughout,  a  reputation  for  learn 
ing,  ability,  and  moderation  to  his  opponents. 
In  his  account  of  the  origin  of  the  controversy, 
he  pays  a  high  tribute  to  the  abilities  of  his 
distinguished  antagonist.  In  his  "advertise 
ment  to  the  unprejudiced  reader,"  he  speaks 
as  follows. 

"One  Mr.  T.  C.  [Thomas  Cartwright],  of 
Bridge  water,  being  at  my  house,  brake  out  into 
extraordinary  (that  I  say  not  excessive  and 
hyperbolical)  praises  of  Dr.  Jeremy  Taylor. 
I  expressed  my  concurrence  with  him  in  great 
10* 


114  THE    LIFE    OF   JEREMY    TAYLOR. 

part,  nay,  I  came  nothing  behind  him,  in  the 
just  commendations  of  his  admirable  wit,  great 
parts,  quick  and  elegant  pen,  his  abilities  in 
critical  learning,  and  his  profound  skill  in  an 
tiquity." 

We  gladly  pass  from  the  angry  arena  of 
controversy,  to  the  calmer  and  purer  atmos 
phere  surrounding  friendly  intercourse,  and 
the  interchange  of  good  works.  Mr.  Evelyn, 
with  the  fellow-feeling  of  a  scholar,  seems  to 
have  been  keenly  alive  to  his  friend's  pecu 
niary  annoyances.  He  not  only  gave  liberally 
himself,  but  called  out  like  assistance  from  his 
brothers.  He  wrote  on  the  9th  of  May,  as  fol 
lows.  "Among  the  rest  that  are  tributaries 
to  your  worth,  I  make  bold  to  present  you 
with  this  small  token,  and  though  it  bears  no 
proportion,  either  with  my  obligation,  or  your 
merit,  yet  I  hope  you  will  accept  it  as  the  pro- 
duct  of  what  I  have  employed  for  this  pur 
pose  ;  and  which  you  shall  yearly  receive,  so 
long  as  God  makes  me  able,  and  that  it  may 
be  useful.  What  I  can  handsomely  do  for 
you,  by  other  friends,  as  occasions  present 
themselves,  may,  I  hope,  in  time  supply  that 
which  I  myself  would  do.  In  order  to  which, 
I  have  already  made  one  of  my  brothers  sensi- 


GRACEFUL    GRATITUDE.  115 

ble  of  tills  opportunity,  to  do  God  and  his 
Church,  an  acceptable  service.  I  think  I  shall 
prevail  as  much  on  the  other." 

The  delicately  worded  offer  met  with  a  fit 
ting  response  from  the  grateful  recipient. 

"  HONORED  AND  DEAR  SIR  : — A  stranger  came 
two  nights  since  from  you,  with  a  letter  and  a 
token ;  full  of  humanity  and  sweetness  that 
was,  and  this  of  charity.  I  know  it  is  more 
blessed  to  give  than  to  receive ;  and  as  I  no 
ways  repine  at  the  Providence  that  forces  me 
to  receive,  so  neither  can  I  envy  that  felicity 
of  yours,  not  only  that  you  can,  but  that  you 
do  give ;  and  as  I  rejoice  in  that  mercy  which 
daily  makes  decree  in  heaven  for  my  support 
and  comfort,  so  I  do  most  thankfully  adore 
the  goodness  of  God  to  you,  whom  he  consigns 
to  greater  glories,  by  the  ministeries  of  these 
graces.  But,  sir,  what  am  I,  or  what  can  I 
do,  or  what  have  I  done,  that  you  think  I 
have  or  can  oblige  you  ?  Sir,  you  are  too  kind 
to  me,  and  oblige  me  not  only  beyond  my 
merit,  but  beyond  my  modesty.  I  only  can 
love  you,  and  honor  you,  and  pray  for  you : 
and  in  all  this,  I  cannot  say  but  that  I  am  be 
hindhand  with  you,  for  I  have  found  so  great 


116      THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOR. 

effluxes  of  all  your  worthiness  and  charities, 
that  I  am  a  debtor  for  your  prayers,  for  the 
comfort  of  your  letters,  for  the  charity  of  your 
hand,  and  the  affections  of  your  heart.  Sir, 
though  you  are  beyond  the  reach  of  my  re 
turns,  and  my  services  are  very  short  of  touch 
ing  you,  yet  if  it  were  possible  for  me  to  re 
ceive  any  commands,  the  obeying  of  which 
might  signify  my  great  regards  of  you,  I  could 
with  some  more  confidence  converse  with  a 
person  so  obliging ;  but  I  am  obliged,  and 
ashamed,  and  unable  to  say  so  much  as  I 
should  do  to  represent  myself  to  be,  honored 
and  dear  sir,  your  most  affectionate  and 

obliged  friend  and  servant, 

JER.  TAYLOR. 

May,  15,  1657. 

In  165T,  a  collection  of  several  of  Dr.  Tay 
lor's  works  appeared  in  a  folio  volume,  with 
the  title,  Sumlolon  EtJiico  Polemicon ;  or,  a 
Collection  of  Polemical  and  Moral  Discourses. 
It  contained  the  "  Liberty  of  Prophesying"  (to 
which  he  now  added  the  beautiful  parable  of 
Abraham,  already  quoted  in  these  pages),  the 
"  Golden  Grove,"  the  "  Apology  for  authorized 
and  set  forms  of  Liturgy,"  and  other  treatises 
already  in  print ;  but  with  these  were  included, 


THE    MATCHLESS    OJRINDA.  117 

the  "Treatise  on  Friendship,"  and  "Two Letters 
to  persons  changed  in  their  religion,"  which 
were  now  first  made  perfect. 

The  Treatise  on  Friendship,  one  of  his  most 
beautiful  productions,  is  dedicated  to  Mrs. 
Katherine  Phillips.  This  lady  was  the  wife  of 
James  Phillips,  Esq.,  of  the  Priory  at  Cardigan. 
She  was  a  great  favorite  with  the  authors  of 
the  day,  claiming  herself  membership  of  the 
guild  by  a  number  of  occasional  poems,  which 
were  published  in  a  folio  volume  after  her 
death,  and  was  frequently  complimented  under 
the  title  of  the  "  Matchless  Orinda,"  a  name  she 
had  assumed  in  conducting  a  long  correspond 
ence  with  a  friend,  Sir  Charles  dotterel.  Her 
poetry  is  smoothly  written,  but  does  not  take 
any  elevated  rank.  She  wTas  a  lady  of  exem 
plary  character  and  great  amiability,  qualities 
which,  combined  with  a  handsome  person  and 
easy  fortune,  wTill  go  far  in  accounting  for  her 
popularity. 

The  dedication  to  the  Matchless  Orinda,  is  not 
the  only  tribute  of  a  personal  character  which 
graces  this  Treatise  on  Friendship.  We  find, 
from  a  postscript  addressed  to  the  same  lady 
that  the  work  itself  was  due  to  the  inspiration. 
of  the  noble  virtue  it  so  eloquently  coinmem- 


118  THE    LIFE    OF    JKKEMY    TAYLOK. 

orates,  having  been  written  for  the  private  pe 
rusal  of  his  friends,  without  any  design  of  pub 
lication.  He  alluded  to  one  of  these  friends, 
his  physician,  Dr.  Wedderburne,  with  tender 
affection  and  graceful  eulogy.  "  If  you  shall 
think  fit  that  these  papers  pass  further  than 
your  own  eye  and  closet,  I  desire  they  may  be 
consigned  into  the  hands  of  my  worthy  friend, 
Dr.  Wedderburne ;  for  I  do  not  only  expose 
all  my  sickness  to  his  cure,  but  I  submit  my 
weaknesses  to  his  censure,  being  as  confident 
to  find  of  him  charity  for  what  is  pardonable, 
as  remedy  for  what  is  curable :  but,  indeed, 
madam,  I  look  upon  that  worthy  man  as  an 
idea  of  friendship,  and  if  I  had  no  other  no 
tices  of  friendship  or  conversation,  to  instruct 
me  than  his,  it  were  sufficient ;  for  whatsoever 
I  can  say  of  friendship,  I  can  say  of  his,  and  as 
all  that  know  him,  reckon  him  among  the 
best  physicians,  so  I  know  him  worthy  to  be 
reckoned  among  the  best  friends." 

Dr.  "Wedderburne  was  one  of  the  physi 
cians  in  ordinary  to  Charles  the  First.  He 
was  originally  a  professor  of  philosophy  at  St. 
Andrew's,  afterwards  travelled,  and,  says  An 
thony  Wood,  "  became  so  celebrated  for  his 
great  skill  in  physic,  that  he  was  the  chief  man 


DR.    WEDDEKBURNE.  119 

of  this  country  for  many  years  for  that  faculty. 
Afterwards  he  received  the  honor  of  knight 
hood,  and  was  highly  valued  when  he  was  in 
Holland  with  the  Prince  in  1646-7.  At  length, 
though  his  infirmities  and  great  age  forced 
him  to  retire  from  public  practice  and  busi 
ness,  yet  his  fame  contracts  *  all  the  Scotch 
nation  to  him,  and  his  noble  hospitality,  and 
kindness  to  all  that  were  learned  and  virtuous, 
made  his  conversation  no  less  loved  than  his 
advice  was  desired."  f 

It  is  difficult  to  decide  whether  Dr.  Taylor 
was  at  this  time  permanently  residing  in,  or 
only  a  frequent  visitor  to  the  metropolis. 
Anthony  Wood  states  that  he  left  Wales  and 
took  charge  of  a  small  congregation  in  Lon 
don.  The  use  of  the  Liturgy  had  been  forbid 
den  by  law  some  years  previously,  but  a  Puri 
tan  regulation,  established  in  1641,  whereby 
every  parish  was  authorized  to  found  and 
maintain  a  lecture,  was  now  turned  to  the  ser 
vice  of  the  Church  it  was  designed  to  molest, 
as  several  congregations,  deprived  of  their 


o  A  curious  example  of  the  use  of  the  word  in  the  sense  of 
'  draws  together." 
•j-  Bishop  Heber's  Life  of  Taylor. 


120      THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  1AYLOK. 

lawful  rectors,  employed  lecturers  known  to 
belong  to  the  episcopal  and  monarchical  party. 
The  jurisdiction  of  the  Triers,  the  celebrated 
functionaries  to  whom  the  examination  of 
church  affairs  was  committed,  being  limited  to 
parishes  supported  by  tithes,  they  could  not 
touch  the  lecturers  who  depended  upon  what 
is  now  known  as  the  voluntary  system.  A 
few  clergymen  of  the  Church  thus  continued 
to  preach  during  the  period  of  the  Com 
monwealth:  one  of  the  number  was  Bishop 
Pearson,  of  Chester,  who  delivered  his  celebra 
ted  lectures  on  the  Creed,  in  St.  Clement's, 
Eastcheap,  in  1659.  If  Dr.  Taylor  did  not  ac 
cept  any  ministerial  charge,  we  have  evidence, 
in  the  diary  of  Mr.  Evelyn,  that  he  once,  at 
least,  officiated  in  London  at  this  period. 

We  next  hear  of  Dr.  Taylor  as  again  a. pris 
oner.  His  publisher,  Eoyston,  had  prefixed  to 
his  "Collection  of  Offices,"  an  engraving  of 
our  Saviour,  kneeling.  All  representations  of 
sacred  objects  were  at  this  time  condemned  as 
popish.  This  superstitious  dread  of  supersti 
tion  had  caused  great  losses  to  the  nation,  by 
the  destruction  of  painted  windows,  and  stat 
ues  in  the  churches,  the  dispersion  of  the  late 
King's  picture-gallery  and  other  collections. 


THE    STRANGELY    HOPEFUL   BOY.  121 

The  engraving  was  probably  only  taken  notice 
of  as  a  means  of  annoyance,  Mr.  Evelyn  ex 
pressly  stating,  in  his  diary,  that  the  prosecution 
was  owing  to  the  printer  having  offended  the 
Lieutenant  of  the  Tower.  Through  the  influ 
ence  of  Dr.  Taylor's  ever-constant  friend  with 
this  functionary,  to  whose  charge  the  divine 
had  been  committed,  the  printer  having  escaped 
arrest,  the  prisoner  was  soon  set  at  liberty. 

We  have  read  Dr.  Taylor's  letter  to  Mr.  Ev 
elyn,  in  which  he  "opened  his  grief"  on  the 
the  loss  of  his  sons.  It  was  now  his  province 
to  comfort  the  same  friend  under  a  similar  be 
reavement.  He  writes  to  him  from  his  prison  : 

DEAK  SIB  : — 

If  dividing  and  sharing  griefs  were  like  the 
cutting  of  rivers,  I  dare  say  to  you,  you  would 
find  your  stream  much  abated  ;  for  I  account 
myself  to  have  a  great  cause  of  sorrow,  not 
only  in  the  diminution  of  your  joys  and 
hopes,  but  in  the  loss  of  that  pretty  person, 
your  strangely  hopeful  boy.  I  cannot  tell  all 
my  own  sorrows  without  adding  to  yours; 
and  the  causes  of  my  real  sadness  in  your  loss 
are  so  just,  and  so  reasonable,  that  I  can  no 
otherwise  comfort  you,  but  by  telling  you, 
11 


122      THE  LIFE  OF  JEKEMY  TAYLOK. 

that  you  have  very  great  cause  to  mourn.  So 
certain  it  is  that  grief  does  propagate  as  fire 
does.  You  have  enkindled  my  funeral  torch, 
and  by  joining  mine  to  yours,  I  do  but  in 
crease  the  flame.  c  HOG  me  male  uritj  is  the 
best  signification  of  my  apprehension  of  your 
sad  story.  But,  sir,  I  cannot  choose,  but  I 
must  hold  another,  and  a  brighter  flame  to 
you :  it  is  already  burning  in  your  heart ;  and 
if  I  can  but  remove  the  dark  side  of  the  lan 
tern,  you  have  enough  within  you  to  warm 
yourself  and  to  shine  to  others.  Remember, 
sir,  your  two  boys  are  two  bright  stars,  and 
their  innocence  is  secured,  and  you  shall  never 
hear  evil  of  them  again.  Their  state  is  safe, 
and  heaven  is  given  to  them  upon  very  easy 
terms;  nothing  but  to  be  born  and  die.  It 
will  cost  you  more  trouble  to  get  where  they 
are ;  and  among  other  things,  one  of  the  hard 
nesses  will  be,  that  you  must  overcome  even 
this  just  and  reasonable  grief;  and,  indeed, 
though  the  grief  hath  but  too  reasonable  a 
cause,  yet  it  is  much  more  reasonable  that 
you  master  it.  For  besides  that  they  are 
no  losers,  but  you  are  the  person  that  com 
plains,  do  but  consider  what  you  would  have 
suffered  for  their  interest :  you  would  have 


LOSS    OF    CIIILDIIEX.  123 

suffered  them  to  go  from  you,  to  be  great  prin 
ces  in  a  strange  country,  and  if  you  can  be 
content  to  suffer  your  own  inconvenience  for 
their  interest,  you  command  [commend]  your 
worthiest  love,  and  the  question  of  mourning 
is  at  an  end.     But  you  have  said,  and  done 
well,  when  you  look  upon  it  as  a  rod  of  God ; 
and  he  that   so  smites  here,  will  spare  here 
after  :  and  if  you,  by  patience  and  submission, 
imprint  the  discipline  upon  your  own  flesh, 
you  kill  the  cause,  and  make  the  effect  very 
tolerable  ;  because  it  is,  in  some  sense,  chosen, 
and,  therefore,  in  no  sense  insufferable.     Sir,  if 
you  do  not  look  to  it,  time  will  snatch  your 
honor  from  you,  and  reproach  you  for  not  ef 
fecting   that   by  Christian  philosophy,  which 
time  will  do  alone.     And  if  you  consider,  that 
of  the  bravest  men  in  the  world  we  find  the 
seldomest  stories   of  their   children,  and   the 
Apostles  had  none,  and  thousands  of  the  wor 
thiest  persons,  that   sound  most  in  story,  died 
childless,  you  will  find  it  is  a  rare  act  of  Prov 
idence,  so  to  impose  upon  worthy  men  a  neces 
sity  of  perpetuating   their  names  by  worthy 
actions  and  discourses,  governments,  and  rea 
sonings.     If  the  breach  be  never  repaired,  it  is 
because  God  does  not  see  it  fit  to  be ;  and  if 


124:  THE   LIFE   OF   JEREMY   TAYLOR. 

you  will  be  of  tins  mind,  it  will  be  much  the 
better.  But,  sir,  you  will  pardon  my  zeal  and 
passion  for  your  comfort :  I  will  readily  con 
fess  that  you  have  no  need  of  any  discourse 
from  me  to  comfort  you.  Sir,  now  you  have 
an  opportunity  of  serving  God  by  passive 
graces  ;  strive  to  be  an  example  and  a  comfort 
to  your  lady,  and  by  your  wise  counsel  and 
comfort,  stand  in  the  breaches  of  your  own 
family,  and  make  it  appear  that  you  are  more 
to  her  than  ten  sons.  Sir,  by  the  assistance  of 
Almighty  God,  I  purpose  to  wait  on  you  some 
time  next  week,  that  I  may  be  a  witness  of  your 
Christian  courage  and  bravery,  and  that  I  may 
see  that  God  never  displeases  you,  as  long  as 
the  main  stake  is  preserved — I  mean  your 
hopes  and  confidences  of  heaven.  Sir,  I  shall 
pray  for  all  that  you  can  want — that  is,  some 
degrees  of  comfort,  and  a  present  mind ;  and 
shall  always  do  you  honor,  and  fain  also  would 
do  you  service,  if  it  were  in  the  power,  as  it  is 
in  the  affections  and  desires  of 

Dear  Sir,  your  most  affectionate  and 
obliged  friend  and  servant, 

JER.  TAYLOR. 

Feb.  17,  1657-8. 


DR.    TAYLOE    PREACHING.  125 

Ail  entry  in  Mr.  Evelyn's  diary,  eight  days 
later,  shows  Dr.  Taylor  happily  at  liberty  to 
keep  his  promise. — "  Feb.  25.  Came  Dr.  Jer 
emy  Taylor  and  my  brothers,  with  other 
friends,  to  visit  and  condole,  with  us." 

We  find  a  little  further  on  in  the  same  rec 
ord,  that  on  the  Tth  of  March,  Mr.  Evelyn 
went  to  London  "  to  hear  Dr.  Taylor  in  a  pri 
vate  house  on  Luke  xiii.  23,  24.  After  the 
sermon  followed  the  blessed  communion,  of 
which  I  participated.  In  the  afternoon  Dr. 
Gunning,  of  Excester  House,  expounding  part 
of  the  Creed." 

11* 


CHAPTER  XI. 

LECTURESHIP LETTERS     TO     ME.     EVELYN RELIGION 

INTEREST DR.     PETTY LORD     CONWAY PORTMORE  — 

LOUGHS     NEAGH     AND     BAG RAM    ISLAND  —  LITERARY 

NEWS — TANDY — ACKNOWLEDGMENTS  TO  MR.  EVELYN. 

AN  offer  seems  to  have  been  made  soon  after 
this,  through  Mr.  Evelyn,  by  Edward,  earl 
of  Conway,  to  Dr.  Taylor,  of  a  lectureship  in 
the  vicinity  of  Lisburn,  Ireland.  It  is  alluded 
to  in  the  following  letter,  which  possesses  an 
interest  from  its  picture  of  parochial  affairs 
under  the  Commonwealth. 

To  JOHN  EVELYN,  ESQUIRE. 

May  12,  1G58. 

HONORED  Sm : — I  return  you  many  thanks 
for  your  care  of  my  temporal  affairs :  I  wish  I 
may  be  able  to  give  you  as  good  account  of 
my  watchfulness  for  your  service,  as  you  have 
of  your  diligence  to  do  me  benefit.  But  con 
cerning  the  thing  itself,  I  am  to  give  you  this 
account.  I  like  not  the  condition  of  being  a 
lecturer  under  the  dispose  of  another,  nor  to 


OBJECTIONS    TO    A    LECTURESHIP.  127 

serve  in  my  semicircle,  where  a  Presbyterian 
and  myself  shall  be  like  Castor  and  Pollux, 
the  one  up  and  the  other  down ;  which,  me- 
thinks,  is  like  the  worshipping  the  sun,  and 
making  him  the  deity,  that  we  may  be  re 
ligious  half  the  year,  and  every  night  serve 
another  interest.  Sir,  the  stipend  is  so  incon 
siderable,  it  will  not  pay  the  charge  and  trou 
ble  of  removing  myself  and  family.  It  is 
wholly  arbitrary;  for  the  triers  may  over 
throw  it ;  or  the  vicar  may  forbid  it ;  or  the 
subscribers  may  die,  or  grow  weary,  or  poor, 
or  be  absent.  I  beseech  you,  sir,  pay  my 
thanks  to  your  friend,  who  had  so  much  kind 
ness  for  me  as  to  intend  my  benefit :  I  think 
myself  no  less  obliged  to  him  and  you  than  if 
I  had  accepted  it." 

We  add  the  conclusion  of  this  letter,  though 
fragmentary,  for  its  sound  counsel  to  his  friend 
concerning  his  spiritual  and  temporal  interests. 
It  may  appear  at  first  sight  that  these  are  in 
congruously  joined,  but  we  are  to  remember 
the  harassing  effect  of  pecuniary  difficulties 
upon  the  mind,  and  the  great  evils  inflicted 
upon  others  by  carelessness  or  irregularity  in 
the  discharge  of  obligations.  Dr.  Taylor  had 


128      THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOK. 

for  many  years  felt  in  his  own  experience  the 
weight  of  these  cares. 

"  Sir,"  he  continues,  "  I  am  well  pleased  with 
the  pious  meditations  and  the  extracts  of  a  re 
ligious  spirit  which  I  read  in  your  excellent 
letter.  I  can  say  nothing  at  present  but  this : 
that  I  hope  in  a  short  progression  you  will  be 
wholly  immerged  in  the  delices  and  joys  of  re 
ligion  ;  and  as  I  perceive  your  relish  and  gust 
of  the  things  of  the  world  goes  oif  continually, 
so  you  will  be  invested  with  new  capacities, 
and  entertained  with  new  appetites;  I  say 
with,  new  appetites,  for  in  religion  every  new 
degree  of  love  is  a  new  appetite;  as  in  the 
schools  we  say,  every  single  angel  does  make 
a  species,  and  differs  more  than  numerically 
from  an  angel  of  the  same  order. 

"  Your  question  concerning  interest  hath  in  it 
110  difficulty  as  you  have  prudently  stated  it. 
For  in  the  case,  you  have  only  made  your 
self  a  merchant  with  them ;  only  you  take  less, 
that  you  be  secured  ;  as  you  pay  a  fine  to  the 
Assurance  Office.  I  am  only  to  add  this. 
You  are  neither  directly  nor  collaterally  to  en 
gage  the  debtor  to  pay  more  than  is  allowed 
by  law.  It  is  necessary  that  you  employ  your 
money  some  way  for  the  advantage  of  your 


ETHICS    OF   INTEEEST.  129 

family.  You  may  lawfully  buy  land,  or  traf 
fic,  or  exchange  it  to  your  profit.  You  may 
do  this  by  yourself  or  by  another,  and  you 
may  as  well  get  something  as  he  get  more, 
and  that  as  well  by  money,  as  by  land  or 
goods;  for  one  is  as  valuable  in  the  esti 
mation  of  merchants  and  of  all  the  world  as 
any  thing  else  can  be :  and,  methinks,  no  man 
should  deny  money  to  be  valuable,  that  re 
members  every  man  parts  with  what  he  hath 
for  money ;  and  as  lands  are  of  a  price  when 
they  are  sold  forever,  and  when  they  are  part 
ed  with  for  a  year,  so  is  money  ;  since  the  em 
ployment  of  it  is  as  apt  to  minister  to  gain  as 
lands  are  to  rent.  Money  and  lands  are  equal 
ly  the  matter  of  increase ;  to  both  of  them  our 
industry  must  be  applied,  or  else  the  profit 
will  cease:  now  as  a  tenant  of  lands  may 
plough  for  me,  so  a  tenant  of  money  may  go 
to  sea  and  traffic  for  me." 

It  is  not  certain  whether  Dr.  Taylor's  objec 
tions  were  overcome  and  he  accepted  this  lec 
tureship,  or  that  a  new  proposal  was  made. 
In  either  case  the  additional  inducement  was 
offered  of  a  permanent  provision  for  his  fami 
ly.  Dr.,  afterwards  Sir  "William  Petty,  who 
had  recently  made  a  survey  of  the  island  by 


130      THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOR. 

order  of  the  government,  and  had  thus  become  • 
intimately  acquainted  with  the  value  of  the 
forfeited  estates,  offered  to  purchase  lands  of 
this  description  for  him  at  very  low  rates. 
This,  added  to  introductions  to  persons  of  high 
authority,  and  the  continued  solicitations  of 
Lord  Conway,  who  promised  him  "  many  inti 
mate  kindnesses,"  led  him  to  accept.  Lord 
Conway  was  influenced  not  only  by  regard  for 
Dr.  Taylor,  but  by  a  laudable  desire  to  improve 
the  people  who  occupied  his  estates.  "  I 
thank  God,"  he  earnestly  expresses  himself  to 
a  relative,  Major  Rawdon,  "I  went  upon  a 
principle  not  to  be  repented  of,  for  I  had  no 
interest  or  passion  in  what  I  did  for  him,  but 
rather  some  reluctancy.  What  I  pursued  was, 
to  do  an  act  of  piety  towards  all  such  as  are 
truly  disposed  to  virtue  in  those  parts,  -for  I 
am  certain  he  is  the  choicest  person  in  England 
appertaining  to  the  conscience." 

Dr.  Taylor's  decision  was  soon  made,  for  in 
June  we  find  him  leaving  London,  provided 
with  the  promised  introductions  and  a  pass 
signed  and  sealed  by  the  Lord  Protector,  for 
Antrim  county,  Ireland.  His  residence  is  sup 
posed  to  have  been  near  that  of  Lord  Conway 
at  Portmore.  From  this  place  he  visited  Lis- 


PORTMORE.  131 

burn,  eight  miles  distant,  now  an  important 
town,  but  then  only  a  small  village,  as  the  du 
ties  of  his  lectureship  called  him.    The  mansion 
of  Portmore,  built  not  many  years  previously, 
after  the  designs  of  the  celebrated  architect  Ini- 
go  Jones,  in  a  style  of  great  extent  and  splen- 
dorj  stood  in  a  beautiful  park  adorned  by  the 
waters  of  Lough  Neagh,  and  the  smaller  Lough 
Bag,  or  Little  Lake.     It  is  a  tradition  of  the 
neighborhood  that  the  great  divine  often  visit 
ed  several  of  the  beautiful  little  islands  which 
adorn  both  of  these  sheets  of  water.     Earn  Isl 
and,  which  contains  the  ruins  of  a  monastery 
and  one  of  the  round  towers  peculiar  to  the 
country,  and  which  add  much  to  the  pictur- 
esqueness  of  many  of  its  celebrated  localities, 
is  said  to  have  been  one  of  his  especial  favor 
ites.      Another   was   a   smaller   nook   in   the 
smaller  lake.     Both  were  within  a  mile  from 
Portmore,  and  therefore  at  a  convenient  dis 
tance.     A  visitor  some  score  of  years  since  to 
the  Lough,  found  upon  one  of  its  small  islands 
the  remains  of  a  summer-house,  in  which  Dr. 
Taylor  is  said  to  have  frequently  composed.* 
In  this  pleasant  retreat  Dr.  Taylor  complet- 

*  Willniott's  Life  of  Jeremy  Taylor,  p.  182. 


132      THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOR. 

ed  his  great  work  on  Cases  of  Conscience.  "  I 
have  kept  close  all  the  winter,"  he  writes  to 
Mr.  Evelyn,  "  that  I  might  without  interruption 
attend  to  the  finishing  of  the  employment  I 
was  engaged  in."  His  retirement  and  occupa 
tion  are  far  from  lessening  his  interest  in  the 
literary  movement  of  the  time.  "  Sir,"  he 
continues,  "  I  pray,  say  to  me  something  con 
cerning  the  state  of  learning ;  how  is  any  art 
and  science  likely  to  improve?  what  good 
books  are  lately  public?  what  learned  men, 
abroad  or  at  home,  begin  anew  to  fill  the 
mouth  of  fame,  in  the  place  of  the  dead  Sal- 
masius,  Yossius,  Mocelin,  Sirmond,  Rigaltius. 
Descartes,  Galileo,  Peiresk,  Petavius,  and  the 
excellent  persons  of  yesterday  ?" 

This,  like  all  his  other  letters  from  this  place, 
breathes  an  air  of  contentment.  He  fully  ap 
preciated  the  natural  beauties  of  this,  as  of  his 
former  retreat,  addressing  a  friend,  em  amcenis- 
simo  recessu,  from  my  most  pleasant  recess,  in 
Portmore.  He  was  not  entirely  free  from  an 
noyance,  a  petty  fellow,  named  Tandy,  an  agent 
of  various  large  estates  in  the  neighborhood, 
having  denounced  him  to  the  Irish  Privy 
Council  as  disaffected.  An  allusion  to  the  af 
fair  occurs  in  a  letter  to  Evelyn,  dated,  June 


TROUBLE  WITH  TANDY.          133 

4,  1659.  "  I  fear  my  peace  in  Ireland  is  likely 
to  be  short ;  for  a  Presbyterian  and  a  madman 
have  informed  against  me  as  a  dangerous  man 
to  their  religion ;  and  for  using  the  sign  of  the 
cross  in  baptism."  In  consequence  of  this 
charge  Dr.  Taylor  was  summoned  to  appear 
before  the  Irish  Privy  Council  during  the  win 
ter.  His  friend,  Lord  Conway,  was  much  an 
noyed  at  Tandy's  conduct.  He  took  the  mat 
ter  up  as  his  own  personal  affair,  writing  to  a 
friend,  "I  hope,  therefore,  when  you  come 
over  you  will  take  him,  Tandy,  off  from  persecu 
ting  me,  since  none  know  better  than  yourself 
whether  I  deserve  the  same  at  his  hands." 
"  The  quarrel  is,  it  seems,  because  he  thinks 
Dr.  Taylor  more  welcome  to  Hillsborough 
than  himself."  The  nobleman's  influence,  com 
bined  with  that  of  others,  was,  probably,  suffi 
cient  to  procure  Dr.  Taylor's  immediate  dis 
charge.  His  journey  at  an  inclement  season, 
had  also  brought  on  a  severe  illness,  furnish 
ing,  as  Bishop  Heber  suggests,  an  additional 
inducement  for  lenity. 

It  appears  from  another  portion  of  this  let 
ter   that  Mr.  Evelyn's  bounty  was  still  con 
tinued:  "Sir,  I  do  account  myself  extremely 
obliged  to  your  kindness  and  charity,  in  your 
12 


134         "TIIK  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOK. 

continued  care  of  me  and  bounty  to  me ;  it  is 
so  much  the  more,  because  I  have  almost  from 
all  men.  but  yourself,  suffered  some  diminu 
tion  of  their  kindness,  by  reason  of  my  ab 
sence,  for,  as  the  Spaniard  says,  'The  dead 
and  the  absent  have  but  few  friends.'  But, 
sir,  I  account  myself  infinitely  obliged  to  you, 
much  for  your  pension,  but  exceedingly  much 
more  for  your  affection,  which  you  have  so 
signally  expressed.  I  pray,  sir,  be  pleased  to 
present  my  humble  service  to  your"  two  hon 
oured  brothers :  I  shall  be  ashamed  to  make 
any  address,  or  pay  my  thanks  in  words  to 
them,  till  my  Rule  of  Conscience  be  public, 
and  that  is  all  the  way  I  have  to  pay  my 
debts ;  that  and  my  prayers  that  God  would. 
*  *  *  *  *  * 

"  Sir,  I  fear  I  have  tired  you  with  an  imperti 
nent  letter,  but  I  have  felt  your  charity  to  be 
so  great  as  to  do  much  more  than  to  pardon 
the  excess  of  my  affections.  Sir,  I  hope  that 
you  and  I  remember  one  another  when  we  are 
upon  our  knees." 

Another  letter  to  Mr.  Evelyn,  written  not 
long  after  the  death  of  Cromwell,  presents  a 
beautiful  picture  of  devotion  and  friendship. 
"I  long,  sir,  to  come  to  converse  with  you; 


RETIREMENT. 


135 


for  I  promise  to   myself  that  I  may  receive 
from  you   an   excellent  account  of  your  pro 
gression  in  religion,  and  that  you  are  entered 
unto  the  experimental  and  secret  way  of  it, 
which  is  that  state  of  excellency  whither  good 
persons  use  to  arrive  after  a  state  of  repent 
ance  and  caution.     My  retirement  in  this  sol 
itary  place  hath  been  I  hope  of  some  advantage 
to  me  as  to  this  state  of  religion,  in  which  I  am 
yet  but  a  novice,  but  by  the  goodness  of  God, 
I  see  fine  things  before  me  whither  I  am  con 
tending.     It  is  a  great,  but  a  good  work,  and 
I  beg  of  you  to  assist  me  with  your  prayers, 
and  to  obtain  of  God  for  me  that  I  may  ar 
rive  to  that  height  of  love   and   union   with 
God,  which  is  given  to  all  those  souls  who  are 
verv  dear  to  God. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE    DUCTOK    DUBITANTIUM DEATH    OF    CROMWELL THE 

DECLARATION DEDICATION WORKS     ON    CASUISTRY 

CONSCIENCE ANCIENT    CABINET — FRIAR  CLEMENT THE 

JEWISH    LAW SANCTITY     OF     CHURCHES JUSTICE     AND 

PIETY — RANDOM    SHOTS — SCRUPLES LIMITED     OBLIGA 
TIONS. 

IE"  the  following  spring  of  1660,  Dr.  Tay 
lor  visited  London  to  superintend  the  pub 
lication  of  his  Ductor  DiiUtantium.  It  was 
a  fortunate  journey  for  him,  although  from  his 
allusion  to  public  affairs  in  the  letter  just 
quoted  from,  he  had  evidently  no  expectation 
of  the  near  triumph  of  the  royalist  party.  .  He 
says,  Nov.  3,  1659,  "  I  must  needs  beg  the  fa 
vor  of  you  that  I  may  receive  from  you  an  ac 
count  of  your  health  and  present  conditions, 
and  of  your  family  ;  for  I  fear  concerning  all 
my  friends,  but  especially  for  those  few  very 
choice  ones  I  have,  lest  the  present  troubles 
may  have  done  them  any  violence  in  their  af 
fairs  or  content.  It  is  now  long  since  that 
cloud  passed ;  and  though  I  suppose  the  sky 


THE   DECLARATION.  137 

is  yet  full  of  meteors  and  evil  prognostics,  yet 
you  all  have  time  to  consider  concerning 
your  peace  and  your  securities.  That  was  not 
God's  time  to  relieve  his  Church,  and  I  cannot 
understand  from  what  quarter  that  wind  blew, 
and  whether  it  was  for  us  or  against  us.  But 
God  disposes  all  things  wisely;  and  religion 
can  receive  no  detriment  or  diminution  but 
by  our  own  fault."  The  allusion  is  of  course  to 
the  death  of  the  Lord  Protector,  Cromwell,  in 
September,  1659.  Kichard  Cromwell  had,  in 
the  mean  time,  abdicated ;  the  supreme  power 
passed  to  the  army,  whose  leaders  had  been  in 
duced  by  their  associate,  General  Monk,  to  de 
clare  for  Charles  the  Second. 

Shortly  before  the  landing  of  the  king,  a 
number  of  the  leading  members  of  the  royal 
ist  party  united  in  a  "  Declaration,"  designed 
to  allay  apprehension  and  promote  quiet.  As 
Dr.  Taylor's  name  appears  among  those  of  its 
signers,  we  quote  a  portion  as  an  expression  of 
his  views  respecting  this  great  political  change. 
After  thanking  General  Monk  for  his  services, 
the  paper  continues  as  follows  :  "  And  because 
the  enemies  of  the  public  peace  have  endeav 
ored  to  represent  those  of  the  king's  party,  as 
*  men  implacable,  and  such  as  would  sacrifice 
12* 


138  THE   LIFE    OF   JEREMY   TAYLOK. 

the  common  good  to  their  own  private  pas 
sions,  we  do  sincerely  profess,  that  we  do  re 
flect  upon  our  past  sufferings  from  the  hands 
of  God,  and,  therefore,  do  not  cherish  any  vio 
lent  thoughts  or  inclinations,  to  have  been  any 
way  instrumental  in  them.  And  if  the  indis 
cretion  of  any  spirited*  persons  transport  them 
to  expressions  contrary  to  this  our  sense,  we 
utterly  disclaim  them  ;  and  desire  that  the 
imputation  may  extend  no  further  than  the 
folly  of  the  offenders.  And  we  further  declare, 
that  we  intend,  by  our  quiet  and  peaceable  be 
havior,  to  testify  our  submission  to  the  present 
power,  as  it  now  resides  in  the  Council  of 
State,  in  expectation  of  the  future  Parliament, 
upon  whose  wisdom  and  determinations,  we 
trust  God  will  give  such  a  blessing,  as  may 
produce  a  perfect  settlement  both  in  Church 
and  State." 

Dr.  Taylor  had  soon  after  the  gratification 
of  dedicating  the  elaborate  work,  which  he  re 
garded  as  his  masterpiece,  to  the  monarch  to 
whose  cause  he  had  so  faithfully  adhered. 
The  Ductor  Dubitantium  appeared  in  June, 
1660. 

*  A  curious  use  of  the  word  as  the  equivalent  of  hasty,  in 
considerate. 


CASES    OF   CONSCIENCE. 


139 


This  is  by  far  the  longest  of  Dr.  Taylor's  works. 
It  is  the  one,  as  we  have  seen  by  frequent  ref 
erences  in  his  letters,  on  which  he  was  proba 
bly  most  willing  his  reputation  should  rest. 

Under  the    old  Eoman  Catholic  system  of 
the  confessional,  it  became  necessary  to  estab 
lish  certain  rules  of  guidance,  for  counsel  and 
reproof,  for  those  into  whose  ears  the  varied 
story  of  human  doubt  and  frailty  was  constant 
ly  poured,  and  the  most  celebrated  writers  of 
the  middle  ages  produced  huge  folios  to  supply 
this   want.     Casuistry  became   in   their   able 
hands  a  science.     This  necessity  does  not  exist 
in  our  Protestant  Church,  and  works  of  this 
kind  must,  therefore,  possess  a  less  practical  val 
ue  than  they  hold  under  a  system  which  estab 
lishes  a  penitential  or  pecuniary  tariff  for  sins. 
Every  man's  conscience  must,  to  a  very  great 
extent,  be  left  to  establish  its  own  rule.     The 
"  mind  diseased,"  Shakespeare  tells  us,  "  must 
minister  to  itself."    Although  we  can  accept  no 
uninspired  book  as  an  authoritative  guide  to  a 
doubting  conscience,  we  must  be  careful  not  to 
undervalue  the  aid  which  may  be  afforded  by 
judicious  advice.      Our   Church,  though   she 
has   wisely  banished  the  confessional,  invites 
those  who  cannot   quiet  their  consciences,  to 


140      THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOE. 

"come  to  the  minister  of  God's  word  and 
open  their  grief."  It  is  in  the  spirit  of  this 
invitation  that  Dr.  Taylor  has  written.  His 
work  opens  with  a  consideration  of  Conscience 
and  the  difficulties  into  which  its  errors,  its 
debates,  its  doubts,  and  scruples  lead  it.  He 
then  passes  to  the  Law  of  Nature,  which  he 
exhibits  in  its  general  applications,  and  as 
"  commanded,  digested,  and  perfected  by  our 
Supreme  Lawgiver,  Jesus  Christ."  Human 
laws  are  next  discussed  in  their  relations  to 
the  Church,  the  State,  and  the  family.  The 
fourth  and  last  book  treats  of  the  nature  and 
causes  of  good  and  evil. 

It  is  plainly  beyond  our  present  limits  to  en 
ter  into  any  analysis  of  this  remarkable  work, 
It  is,  for  the  most  part,  closely  argued,  afford 
ing  fewer  passages  than  in  Dr.  Taylor's  other 
writings  of  eloquent  amplification.  Many  of 
his  counsels  on  the  details  of  every-day  action 
are  shrewd  and  practical,  but  many  other 
doubtful  points  seem  raised  by  the  ingenuity 
of  the  student  of  books,  rather  than  of  men. 
The  work  overflows  with  curious  learnine;. 

o 

Authors  of  all  ages  and  ranks  are  cited,  and 
illustrations,  often  of  a  very  strange  character, 
introduced  to  enforce  the  writer's  positions. 


THE    OLD    CABINET.  14:1 

Bishop  Ileber  concludes  a  long  and  careful 
examination  of  the  Ductor  Dubitantium,  with, 
a  comparison  most  happily  illustrating  the  pe 
culiarities  to  which  we  have  alluded.  "It  re 
sembles,"  he  says,  "  in  some  degree,  those  an 
cient  inlaid  cabinets  (such  as  Evelyn,  Boyle, 
or  Wilkins,  might  have  bequeathed  to  their 
descendants),  whose  multifarious  contents  per 
plex  our  choice,  and  offer,  to  the  imagination 
or  curiosity  of  a  more  accurate  age,  a  vast 
wilderness  of  trifles  and  varieties,  with  no  ar 
rangement  at  all,  or  an  arrangement  on  obso 
lete  principles  ;  but  whose  ebony  drawers  and 
perfumed  recesses  contain  specimens  of  every 
thing  that  is  precious,  or  uncommon,  and  many 
things  for  which  a  modern  museum  might  be 
searched  in  vain." 

We  cannot  better  convey  an  idea  to  our 
readers  of  these  peculiarities,  than  by  opening 
a  few  of  these  "  ebony  drawers  and  perfumed 
recesses."  Our  extracts  will  serve  our  bio 
graphical  purpose,  by  exhibiting  the  peculiari 
ties  of  the  author's  mind  quite  as  faithfully, 
perhaps,  as  some  of  his  more  elaborate  pas 
sages. 


142  THE    LIFE    OF   JEEEMY    TAYLOR. 


FRIAR  CLEMENT  AND  POOR  DEMOISELLE 
FAUCETTE. 

Friar  Clement,  the  Jacobin,  thinks,  errone 
ously,  that  it  is  lawful  to  kill  his  king;  the 
poor  Demoiselle  Fancette  thinks  it  unlawful 
to  spit  in  the  church:  but  it  happened  that, 
one  day,  she  did  it  against  her  conscience ; 
and  the  Friar,  with  his  conscience  and  a  long 
knife,  killed  the  king.  If  the  question  be 
liere? — wno  sinned  most  ?  the  disparity  is  next 
to  infinite  ;  and  the  poor  woman  was  to  be  chid 
den  for  doing  against  her  conscience,  and  the 
other  to  be  hanged  for  doing  according  to  his. 

Book  I,  Chap.  Ill,  Kule  IV. 

THE  JEWISH  LAW. 

The  law  that  was  wholly  ceremonial  and 
circumstantial,  must  needs  pass  away';  and 
when  they  have  lost  their  priesthood,  they  can 
not  retain  the  law ;  as  no  man  takes  care  to 
have  his  beard  shaved,  when  his  head  is  off. 

Book  I,  Chap.  IV,  Kule  II. 

SANCTITY  OF  CHURCHES. 

Some  think  churches  not  to  be  more  sacred 
than  other  places :  what  degree  of  probability 
soever  this  can  have,  yet  it  is  a  huge  degree 


THE    CASTILIAN    GENTLEMAN.  14:3 

of  folly  to  act  this  opinion,  and  to  choose  a 
barn  to  pray  in,  when  a  church  may  be  had. 

Book  I,  Chap.  IY,  Rule  III. 
JUSTICE  AND  PIETY. 

Justice  is  like  a  knife,  and  hath  a  back  and 
an  edge,  and  there  is  a  letter  and  a  spirit  in 
all  laws,  and  justice  itself  is  to  be  conducted 
with  piety. 

As  prudence  sometimes  must  be  called  to 
counsel  in  the  conduct  of  piety,  so  must  piety 
oftentimes  lead  in  justice;  and  justice  itself 
must  be  sanctified  by  the  word  of  God  and 
prayer,  and  will  then  go  on  towards  heaven, 
when  both  robes,  like  paranymphs  *  attending 
a  virgin  in  the  solemnities  of  her  marriage, 
helped  to  lead  and  to  adorn  her. 

Book  I,  Chap.  IV,  Rule  X. 
RANDOM  SHOTS,  AND  QUESTIONABLE  COUNSELS. 

A  Castilian  gentleman,  being  new  recovered 
from  the  sad  effects  of  a  melancholy  spirit 
and  an  affrighting  conscience,  and  being  en 
tertained  by  some  that  waited  on  him  with 
sports  and  innocent  pastimes,  to  divert  his 
scaring  thoughts,  he  with  his  company,  shot 

«  Bridemaids. 


THE    LIFE   OF   JEKEMY    TAYLOE. 

many  arrows  in  a  public  field,  at  rovers ;  at 
that  time  there  was  a  man  killed,  whether  by 
liis  arrows  or  no,  he  knew  not,  and  is  forbid 
den  to  inquire ;  and  his  case  had  in  it  reason 
enough  to  warrant  the  advice.  The  knowl 
edge  could  not  have  done  him  so  much  good, 
as  it  would  have  done  him  hurt ;  and  it  was 
better  he  should  be  permitted  to  a  doubting 
than  to  a  despairing  conscience,  as  in  his  case 
it  was  too  likely  to  have  happened.  It  is  bet 
ter  to  be  suspected  than  to  be  seen. 

****** 
A  priest,  going  to  the  West-Indies,  by  mis 
fortune  wounds  one  of  his  company,  whom, 
with  much  trouble  and  sorrow,  he  leaves  to  be 
cured  of  his  hurt,  but  passes  on  to  his  voyage, 
which  he  finished  at  a  huge  distance  from  the 
place  of  his  misfortune.  The  merchants,  come 
the  next  year  that  way,  and  he  is  unwilling  to 
inquire  concerning  his  sick  friend;  desirous 
he  was  to  know  good  of  him,  but  infinitely 
fearful  lest  he  be  dead :  consulting,  therefore, 
with  his  superior  in  the  case,  was  directed  not 
to  inquire,  upon  this  account ;  because,  if  the 
man  were  dead,  the  priest  would  be  irregular, 
and  a  whole  parish  unprovided  for,  and  left 
without  rites  and  sacraments  and  public  offi- 


LIMITED    OBLIGATIONS.  145 

ces,  which  then  and  there  could  not  easily  be 

Supplied.  Book  I,  Chap.  Y,  llule  IY. 

SCRUPLES. 

Some  scruple  at  an  innocent  ceremony,  and 
against  all  conviction,  and  armies  of  reason, 
will  be  troubled  and  will  not  understand  ;  this 
is  very  bad  ; — but  it  is  worse  that  he  should 
think  himself  the  more  godly  man  for  being 
thus  troubled  and  diseased,  and  that,  upon  this 
account,  he  shall  fall  out  with  government, 
and  despise  it ;  this  man  nurses  his  scruple 
till  it  proves  his  death  ;  and  instead  of  curing 
a  boil,  dies  with  a  cancer :  and  is  like  a  man 
that  hath  strained  his  foot,  and  keeps  his  bed 
for  ease,  but  by  lying  there  long,  falls  into  a 
lipothymy,*  and  that  bears  him  to  his  grave. 

Book  I,  Chap.  VI,  Eule  Y. 
LIMITED  OBLIGATIONS. 

Every  man  is  bound  to  restore  his  neigh 
bor's  goods  when  they  are  denianded ;  but  if 
he  calls  for  his  sword  to  kill  a  man  withal,— 
there  is  equity  in  this  case,  and  I  am  not  guil 
ty  of  the  breach  of  the  natural  law,  if  I  refuse 
to  deliver  him  the  sword,  when  he  is  so  violent 
and  passionate.  Book  n,  chap,  i,  Rule  xii. 

°  A  swoon. 
13 


CHAPTEE  XIII. 

VACANT    BISHOPEICS — DR.    TAYLOE^S    CLAIMS — APPOINTED 
TO     DOWN    AND     C01TNOE — MARQUIS     OF    ORMOND— THE 

WORTHY  COMMUNICANT — VARIETY  OF  VIEWS THE  DOVE 

— CONSECRATION — BEREAVEMENT — INCUMBENTS  OF  PAR 
ISHES AGREEMENT  AT  BREDA CONFERENCE SECTARI 
AN  STRIFE  IN  BISHOP  TAYLOR'S  DIOCESE — SCOTCH  AND 
IRISH — TRINITY  COLLEGE — DROMOEE CONCILIATION. 

DTJKIN"G  the  long  period  of  the  suppression 
of  Episcopacy  many  bishoprics  had 'be 
come  vacant.  These  were  now  to  be  filled. 
On  political  grounds  no  one  had  better  claim 
to  promotion  than  Dr.  Taylor.  In  those  qual 
ifications  which  rise  far  above  all  political 
grounds  no  one  ever  possessed  greater  claims. 
His  piety  and  learning  were  admitted  by  his 
opponents  as  unreservedly  as  by  his  friends, 
and  this  too  in  an  age  in  which  the  bitterness 
of  sectarian  hate  was  added  to  that  apparently 
inseparable  from  political  strife.  lie  had 
borne  adversity  cheerfully,  and  in  the  pell  mell 
of  confiscations,  losses  and  uncertainties,  main 
tained  by  his  industry  an  unblemished  pe- 


THE    IRISH    BISHOPRIC. 


cuniary  reputation.     He  might  have  claimed, 
and,  had  he  urged  his  claim,  probably  receiv 
ed,  a  far  more  important  diocese  than  that  of 
Down  and  Connor,  in  Ireland,  to  which  he  was 
speedily  appointed.     Dr.  Taylor's  wishes  were 
however  doubtless  consulted.     He  had  become 
attached  to  the  district  where  he  was  now  res 
ident  ;  forming  a  portion  of  the  diocese  over 
which  he  was  called  to  preside.     He  was  ac 
quainted  with  its  spiritual  wants,  and  he  was 
also  perhaps  loath  to  disturb  his  family,  now 
comfortably   established   after  many  changes 
and  privations.     He  was  also,  it  is  probable, 
strongly  urged  to  accept  the  appointment  by  the 
Marquis,  afterwards  Duke  of  Ormond,  a  leading 
Irish  nobleman  and  statesman,  deeply  interest 
ed  in  the  welfare  of  the  Irish  Church,  and  desir 
ous  that  her  vacant  bishoprics  should  be  filled 
by  earnest,  vigorous,  and  talented  men.     Soon 
after  his  compliance,  he  was  elected,  by  this 
gentleman's  influence,  vice-chancellor  of  the 
University  of  Dublin. 

Before  leaving  England  the  Bishop-elect 
published  "  The  Worthy  Communicant;  or,  a 
Discourse  of  the  Nature,  Effect,  and  Blessings, 
consequent  to  the  worthy  receiving  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  and  of  all  the  duties  required 


148      THE  LIFE  OF  JEKEMY  TAYLOR. 

in  order  to  a  worthy  preparation:  together 
with  the  Cases  of  Conscience  occurring  in  the 
duty  of  him  that  ministers,  and  of  him  that 
communicates."  The  work  was  dedicated  to 
Mary,  eldest  daughter  of  Charles  the  First,  and 
the  widowed  mother  of  "William,  prince  of  Or 
ange,  afterwards  king  of  England. 

This  volume  contains  one  of  his  beautiful 
similes.  The  passage  has  an  additional  claim 
to  our  regard  from  its  evidence  of  his  charita 
ble  consideration  for  the  opinions  of  others. 
"  Let  no  man,"  he  says,  "  be  less  confident  in 
his  holy  faith  and  persuasion  concerning 
the  greatest  blessings  and  glorious  effects 
which  God  designs  to  every  faithful  and  obe 
dient  soul  in  the  communication  of  these 
divine  mysteries,  by  reason  of  any  difference 
of  judgment  which  is  in  the  several  schools  of 
Christians  concerning  the  effects  and  conse 
quent  blessings  of  this  sacrament.  Tor  all 
men  speak  honorable  things  of  it,  except  wick 
ed  persons  and  the  scorners  of  religion ;  and, 
though  of  several  persons,  like  the  beholders 
of  a  dove  walking  in  the  sun,  as  they  stand  in 
several  aspects  and  distances,  some  see  red, 
and  others  purple,  and  yet  some  perceive  noth 
ing  but  green,  but  all  allow  and  love  the  beau- 


CONSECRATION.  149 

ties:  so  do  the  several  forms  of  Christians,  ac 
cording  as  they  are  instructed  by  their  first 
teachers,  or  their  own  experience,  conducted 
by  their  fancy  and  proper  principles,  look  upon 
these  glorious  mysteries."  The  volume  also 
contained  a  sermon  preached  by  Dr.  Taylor  at 
the  funeral  of  Sir  George  Dalstone,  of  Dalstone, 
in  Cumberland,  September  28,  1657. 

Dr.  Taylor  was  consecrated  bishop,  with  the 
other  divines  appointed  to  the  vacant  Irish 
dioceses,  twelve  in  number,  by  the  Archbishop 
of  Dublin,  Primate  of  Ireland,  in  St.  Patrick's 
Cathedral,  on  the  27th  of  January,  1661.  The 
sermon,  from  the  forty-third  verse  of  the 
twelfth  chapter  of  St.  Luke,  was  preached  by 
Dr.  Taylor,  and  afterwards  included  in  the  fifth 
edition  of  his  discourses.  In  February  follow 
ing,  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  Irish 
Privy  Council. 

The  joy  of  the  family  circle  at  the  return  of 
their  beloved  head  invested  with  the  high  of 
fice  of  a  bishop,  at  the  reflection  that  his  and 
their  sharp  pecuniary  trials  were  now  over,  and 
home  and  competence  secured,  was  saddened 
by  a  heavy  grief.  The  oft-berea\ed  father 
was  again  called  to  mourn.  His  eldest  and 
last  remaining  son  was  buried  in  *he  parish 
13* 


150      THE  LIFE  OF  JEBEMY  TAYLOR. 

church  at  Lisburn,  on  the   tenth   of  March, 
1661. 

The  settlement  of  religious  affairs  in  the 
United  Kingdom  was  a  task  attended  with 
much  difficulty.  Many  Presbyterian  and  In 
dependent  clergymen  had  been  placed  in  va 
cant  benefices  and  were  not  therefore  liable, 
like  many  placed  in  similar  positions  by  the 
forcible  ejection  of  the  rightful  incumbents,  to 
a  just  call  to  yield  their  places  to  the  former 
and  rightful  owners.  It  would  have  been  well 
had  the  plan  been  followed  to  which  Charles 
to  some  extent  pledged  himself  at  Breda,  in 
the  bargaining  which  returned  him  to  the 
throne.  By  this  agreement  the  first-mention 
ed  class  of  ministers  would  have  been  left  in 
peaceful  possession  of  their  benefices,  with  the 
understanding  that  they  were  to  be  succeeded 
after  their  decease  by  clergymen  of  the  Church 
of  England.  Bishop  Ileber  urges  that  dissent, 
deprived  of  cause  of  complaint,  would  have 
gradually  yielded  to  the  strongly  expressed 
preference  of  the  people  for  the  Liturgy. 

A  different  course  was  however  naturally, 
though  we  cannot  but  think  unhappily,  adopt 
ed,  whereby  the  use  of  the  Prayer-Book  was 
again  uniformly  imposed.  An  attempt  was 


THE   CHTJKCH   IN   IRELAND.  151 

made  by  a  conference  to  render  this  precious 
volume  the  bond  of  union  of  all  English  Prot 
estants,  but  in  spite  of  the  exertions  of  Rich- 
ard  Baxter  and  Philip  Henry,  names  to  be  ever 
held  in  reverence  for  learning  and  piety,  mod 
eration  and  charity,  the  plan  was  defeated. 
Churchmen  did  not  yet  appreciate  the  advan 
tages  of  union.  Dissenters,  while  admitting  the 
pure  doctrine  and  beauty  of  the  Liturgy,  and 
in  many  cases  willing  to  submit  to  Episcopal 
government,  maintained  their  old  stand  against 
wearing  surplices,  using  the  cross  in  Baptism, 
and  kneeling  at  the  Holy  Communion. 

Sectarian  difference,  more  rife  in  Ireland 
than  England,  was  nowhere  more  bitter  than 
in  the  diocese  of  Bishop  Taylor.  The  energet 
ic  suppression  of  the  rebellion  in  Ireland  by 
Cromwell  had  placed  the  island  entirely  in  the 
power  of  his  party.  Church  of  England  cler 
gymen  were  superseded  by  Presbyterian  or  In 
dependent  preachers.  The  confiscated  estates 
fell  into  the  hands  of  individuals  of  the  same 
religious  persuasion,  and  the  dissenting  inter 
est  was  further  strengthened  by  the  settlement 
of  many  Scotch  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
country. 

The  lower  classes   still   adhered  blindly  to 


152  THE    LIFE    OF   JEEEMY    TAYLOK. 

their  ancient  faith,  attached  to  it  by  hereditary 
custom  and  a  feeling  of  nationality  which  en 
deared  their  belief  from  a  fancied  connection 
with  the  soil,  and  identified  Protestantism 
with  invasion  and  tyranny.  There  seems  to 
be  little  doubt  that  the  evil  was,  in  a  great  de 
gree,  owing  to  the  neglect  of  the  English  in  not 
providing  a  clergy  skilled  in  the  native  dia 
lects  of  the  island.  Had  this  course  been 
adopted  at  the  opening  of  the  English  Eefor- 
mation  much  subsequent  difficulty  might  have 
been  avoided. 

The  affairs  of  the  university  partook  of  the 
general  embarrassment.  Trinity  College,  Dub 
lin,  is  familiar  to  us  in  this  country  from  the 
initials  T.  C.  D.,  which  we  have  so  often  met 
appended  to  the  names  of  our  classical  instruct 
ors  in  school  and  college.  The  buildings  still 
occupy  the  vast  green,  in  the  heart  of  Dublin, 
granted,  with  large  productive  endowments, 
by  Queen  Elizabeth,  the  founder.  During  the 
Commonwealth  the  affairs  of  the  college  had 
become  disordered.  The  revenues  were  im 
paired,  a  portion  of  the  endowments  alienated, 
and  students  and  fellows  admitted  without 
regard  to  the  requirements  of  the  statutes. 
Bishop  Taylor  at  once  set  himself  to  the  labor 


HATRED    TO    EPISCOPACY.  153 

not  only  of  restoring  affairs  to  their  former 
condition,  but  to  completing  the  collection,  ar 
rangement,  and  revision  of  the  college  laws 
commenced  by  Bishop  Bedell.  He  succeeded 
so  well,  that  Bishop  Heber  attributes  the  high 
rank  the  institution  has  since  maintained  to  the 
good  order  and  discipline  thus  introduced. 

In  the  April  following  Bishop  Taylor's  con 
secration,  the  small  diocese  of  Dromore,  ad 
joining  his  episcopal  charge,  was  also  placed 
under  his  care,  "  on  account,"  in  the  words  of 
the  official  record  of  his  appointment,  "  of  his 
virtue,  wisdom,  and  industry." 

The  Bishop  had  need  of  these  qualities. 
The  general  difficulties  to  which  we  have  al 
luded,  pressed  nowhere  with  greater  weight 
than  in  his  dioceses.  Many  of  the  sternest 
Presbyterians  had  emigrated  from  the  west  of 
Scotland  across  the  narrow  waters  to  this  in 
viting  region.  They  retained  all  their  attach 
ment  to  the  Covenant  and  dislike  of  Episcopa 
cy.  Their  preachers  formed  a  league  among 
themselves  "to  speak  with  no  bishops,  and  to 
endure  neither  their  government  nor  their  per 
sons."  They  exhorted  their  congregations  to 
pursue  a  similar  course,  denouncing  alike  the 
Episcopal  office  and  its  incumbent. 


154:  THE    LIFE    OF   JEEEMY    TAYLOE. 

Bishop  Taylor,  meanwhile,  pursued  the  con- 
eiliatory  course  reasonably  to  be  expected  from 
him  by  those  familiar  with  his  career.  He  la 
bored  earnestly  in  his  vocation,  preaching 
every  Sunday  in  different  churches,  visiting  his 
clergy,  among  whom  the  malcontents  were  in 
cluded,  inviting  them  to  friendly  conference 
on  points  of  difference,  and  exerting  himself 
to  induce  influential  laymen  to  lend  their  aid 
in  appeasing  clerical  strife.  The  clergy  held 
aloof,  but  the  laity  were  won  by  this  fair  and 
liberal  course,  so  that  by  degrees  the  represent 
atives  of  the  principal  estates  and  interests  of 
the  district  came  over,  with  one  exception,  to 
the  Bishop's  side,  and  it  is  asserted  by  Carte, 
in  his  life  of  the  Duke  of  Ormond,  that  before 
the  Act  of  Uniformity  was  passed,  two  years 
later,  the  majority  of  the  clergy  had  been 
brought  to  a  kindly  appreciation  of  the  Bish 
op's  liberality. 


CHAPTEE  XIY. 

SEKMON  BEFOEE  THE  IRISH  PARLIAMENT— SURPLICES— JUS- 
TICE— PITY— ME.  EVELYN— OnOIE  OF  DEOMORE  CATHE 
DRAL— DE.  BUST— SEEMON  BEFOEE  TRINITY  COLLEGE— 
THE  WOLF  AT  SCHOOL— REFORMATION— CONFIRMATION- 
SERMON  AT  THE  FUNERAL  OF  THE  LORD  PRIMATE— THE 
HOPES  OF  MAN— THE  TRIUMPH  OF  THE  CROSS. 

A  PUBLIC  occasion  soon  presented  an  op- 
A  portunity  for  a  full  exhibition  of  the  new 
Bishop's  views.  We  find  him,  in  his  ^sermon 
delivered  before  both  houses  of  the  Irish  Par 
liament,  while  alluding  with,  as  we  must  con 
sider,  deserved  censure  to  those  who  refused  to 
wear  a  surplice,  as  "  such  as  thought  it  a  less 
sin  to  stand  in  separation  from  the  Church, 
than  to  stand  in  a  clean  white  garment," 
recommending  to  the  fullest  extent  a  course 
of  conciliation  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  absti 
nence  from  factious  opposition  on  the  other. 

He  pursues  the  same  plan  in  reference  to 
subjects  of  a  social  and  political  nature.  He 
thus  charges  the  legislators,  by  whom  the 
questions  respecting  the  confiscated  estates 
were  to  be  determined,  a  matter  in  which  the 


156  THE    LIFE    OF    JEKEMY   TAYLOE. 

property,  feelings,   and   prejudices   of  almost 
the  entire  community  were  involved : 

"  Whatever  you  do,  let  not  the  pretence  of  a 
different  religion  make  you  think  it  lawful  to 
oppress  any  man  in  his  just  rights;  for  opin 
ions  are  not,  but  laws  only,  and  '  doing  as  we 
would  be  done  to,'  are  the  measures  of  justice : 
and  though  justice  does  alike  to  all  men,  Jew 
and  Christian,  Lutheran  and  Calvinist,  yet 
to  do  right  to  them  that  are  of  another  opin 
ion  is  the  way  to  win  them ;  but  if  you,  for 
conscience'  sake,  do  them  wrong,  they  will  hate 
both  you  and  your  religion." 

He  enforces  his  reasoning,  after  his  wonted 
manner  by  a  beautiful  simile  : 

MERCY. 

Surely  no  man  is  so  much  pleased  with  his 
own  innocence,  as  that  he  will  be  willing  to 
quit  his  claim  to  mercy,  and,  if  we  all  need  it, 
let  us  all  show  it. 

Naturae  imperio  gemimus,  cum  funus  adultse 
Virginis  occurrit,  vel  terra  clauditur  infans, 
Et  minor  igne  rogi ! 

If  you  do  but  see  a  maiden  carried  to  her 
grave  a  little  before  her  intended  marriage,  or 
an  infant  die  before  the  birth  of  reason,  nature 


JUSTICE   AXD   MERCY.  157 

has  taught  us  to  pay  a  tributary  tear.  Alas ! 
your  eyes  will  behold  the  ruin  of  many  fami 
lies,  which,  though  they  sadly  have  deserved, 
yet  mercy  is  not  delighted  with  the  spectacle  ; 
and  therefore  God  places  a  watery  cloud  in 
the  eye,  that,  when  the  light  of  heaven  shines 
on  it,  it  may  produce  a  rainbow,  to  be  a  sacra 
ment  and  a  memorial  that  God  and  the  sons  of 
God  do  not  love  to  see  a  man  perish.  God 
never  rejoices  in  the  death  of  him  that  dies, 
and  we  also  esteem  it  indecent  to  have  music 
at  a  funeral.  And  as  religion  teaches  us  to 
pity  a  condemned  criminal,  so  mercy  inter 
cedes  for  the  most  benign  interpretation  of  the 
laws.  You  must,  indeed,  be  as  just  as  the 
laws :  and  you  must  be  as  merciful  as  your 
religion :  and  you  have  no  way  to  tie  these 
together,  but  to  follow  the  pattern  in  the 
mount ;  do  as  God  does,  who  in  judgment  re 
members  mercy. 

On  the  sixteenth  of  November  of  this  year, 
Bishop  Taylor  addressed  a  letter  from  Dublin 
to  his  friend  Evelyn,  written  with  his  usual 
warmth.  It  is  the  last  which  has  been  pre 
served,  and  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  last 
which  passed  between  the  parties. 
14 


158       THE  LIFE  OF  JKRKMY  TAYLOB. 

The  cessation  is  to  be  attributed,  not  to  any 
falling  off  in  friendship,  but  to  the  usual  effect, 
of  distance,  diversity  of  occupation,  and  the 
want  of  any  exciting  cause  to  call  forth  a  let 
ter.  "We  therefore  are  to  part  here  with  one 
of  the  most  attractive  characters  of  our  narra 
tive.  It  is  pleasant  to  remember  that  Mr.  Ev 
elyn  lived  several  years  later,  passing  through 
the  Revolution  of  1688,  and  maintaining 
through  all  changes  of  dynasty  and  party,  an 
amiable  and  honorable  demeanor,  which  ren 
dered  him  a  favorite  with  all  classes  and  sects. 

Many  years  after  Bishop  Taylor's  death,  we 
find  an  allusion  to  Mary  Marsh  as  "  the  daugh 
ter  of  his  worthy  and  pious  friend,  the  late 
Bishop  of  Down  and  Connor." 

In  this  same  year,  Bishop  Taylor  rebuilt  the 
choir  of  his  cathedral  at  Dromore  at  his  own 
expense,  his  wife  presenting  at  the  same  time 
a  set  of  communion  plate.  He  also  strength 
ened  the  clerical  force  of  his  diocese  by  invit 
ing  over  George  Rust,  a  fellow  of  Christ's  Col 
lege,  Cambridge,  and  appointing  him,  soon 
after  his  arrival,  to  the  deanery  of  Connor. 
Dr.  Rust  preached  his  friend's  funeral  sermon 
and  succeeded  him  in  his  bishopric. 

Bishop  Taylor's  liberality  was  not  confined 


CHARITY.  159 


to   clmrcli   restoration.      Dr.   Bust's    sermon 
bears  emphatic  testimony  to  the  extent  of  his 
benefactions   at  this  period.      "He  was  not 
only  a  good  man  Godwards,  but  he  was  come 
to  the  top  of  St.  Peter's  gradation,  and  to  all 
his  other  virtues  added  a  large  and  diffusive 
charity ;    and  whoever  compares  his  plentiful 
incomes  with  the  inconsiderable  estate  he  left 
at  his   death,  will  be   easily   convinced  that 
charity  was  steward  for  a  great  proportion  of 
his   revenue.      But  the   hungry  that  he  fed, 
and  the  naked  that  he  clothed,  and  the  dis 
tressed  that  he  supplied,  and  the  fatherless  that 
he  provided  for ;  the  poor  children  that  he  put 
to  apprentice,  and  brought  up  at  school,  and 
maintained  at  the  university,  will  now  sound 
a  trumpet  to  that  charity  which  he  dispersed 
with  his  right  hand,  but  would  not  suffer  his 
left  hand  to  have  any  knowledge  of  it." 

In  1662,  Bishop  Taylor  printed  his  Via  In- 
telligentice,  a  sermon  preached  before  the  Uni 
versity  of  Dublin.  It  follows  the  train  of 
thought  of  his  Liberty  of  Prophesying,  show 
ing  us  that  holiness  is  the  best  protection 
against  the  reception  or  growth  of  error,  and 
that  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Spirit  will  be  extend 
ed  to  all  who  seek  its  guidance  to  truth.  He 


160      THE  LIFE  OF  JEEEMY  TAYLOK. 

qualifies  the  universal  range  of  this  sentiment 
by  the  declaration,  that  if  "  by  opinions  men 
rifle  the  affairs  of  kingdoms,  it  is  also  as 
certain,  they  ought  not  to  be  made  public  and 
permitted ;"  an  admission  of  a  dangerous  char 
acter  from  the  difficulty  of  restraining  it  with 
in  proper  bounds. 

We  extract  two  characteristic  passages  from 
this  discourse. 

THE  WOLF  AT  SCHOOL. 

Every  man  understands  by  his  affections, 
more  than  by  his  reason ;  and  when  the  wolf 
in  the  fable  went  to  school  to  learn  to  spell, 
whenever  letters  were  told  him,  he  could  nev 
er  make  any  thing  of  them  but  agnus ;  he 
thought  of  nothing  but  his  belly:  and  if  a 
man  be  very  hungry,  you  must  give  him  meat 
before  you  give  him  counsel. 

REFORMATION. 

"We  talk  much  of  reformation ;  and  (blessed 
be  God)  once  we  have  felt  the  good  of  it :  but 
of  late  we  have  smarted  under  the  name  and 
pretension :  the  woman  that  lost  her  groat,  ever- 
rit  domum,  not  evertit:  she  swept  the  house, 
she  did  not  turn  the  house  out  of  doors.  That 


A   WOKM    AND   MORTAL   MAN.  161 

was  but  an  ill  reformation  that  untiled  the 
roof,  and  broke  the  walls,  and  was  digging 
down  the  foundations. 

In  the  following  year,  Bishop  Taylor  added 
"A  Defence  and  Introduction  to  the  Rite  of 
Confirmation,"  three  Sermons  preached  at 
Dublin,  and  a  Funeral  Discourse  on  the  Pri 
mate,  Archbishop  Bramhall,  to  the  long  list  of 
his  writings.  The  Funeral  Discourse  contains 
two  of  his  finest  passages. 

THE  HOPES  OF  MAN. 

As  a  worm  creeping  with  her  belly  on  the 
ground,  with  her  portion  and  share  of  Adam's 
curse,  lifts  up  her  head  to  partake  a  little  of 
the  blessings  of  the  air,  and  opens  the  junc 
tures  of  her  imperfect  body,  and  curls  her  lit 
tle  rings  into  knots  and  combinations,  drawing 
up  her  tail  to  a  neighborhood  of  the  head's 
pleasure  and  motion ;  but  still  it  must  return 
to  abide  the  fate  of  its  own  nature,  and  dwell 
and  sleep  upon  the  dust :  so  are  the  hopes  of 
a  mortal  man;  he  opens  his  eyes  and  looks 
upon  fine  things  at  a  distance,  and  shuts  them 
again  with  weakness,  because  they  are  too  glo 
rious  to  behold  ;  and  the  man  rejoices  because 

14* 


162      THE  LIFE  OF  JEEEMY  TAYLOR. 

he  hopes  fine  things  are  staying  for  him ;  but 
his  heart  aches  because  he  knows  there  are  a 
thousand  ways  to  fail  and  miss  of  those  glories  ; 
and  though  he  hopes,  yet  he  enjoys  not;  he 
longs,  but  he  possesses  not ;  and  must  be  content 
with  his  portion  of  dust,  and  being  a  worm 
and  no  man,  must  lie  down  in  this  portion,  be 
fore  he  can  receive  the  end  of  his  hopes,  the 
salvation  of  his  soul  in  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead. 

THE  TRIUMPH  OF  THE  CROSS. 

Presently  it  came  to  pass,  that  men  were  no 
longer  ashamed  of  the  cross,  but  it  was  worn  up 
on  breasts,  printed  in  the  air,  drawn  upon  fore 
heads,  carried  upon  banners,  put  upon  crowns 
imperial ;  presently  it  came  to  pass,  that  the 
religion  of  the  despised  Jesus  did  infinitely 
prevail :  a  religion  that  taught  men  to  be 
meek  and  humble,  apt  to  receive  injuries,  but 
unapt  to  do  any  ;  a  religion  that  gave  counte 
nance  to  the  poor  and  pitiful,  in  a  time  when 
riches  were  adored,  and  ambition  and  pleasure 
had  possession  of  the  heart  of  all  mankind  ;  a 
religion  that  would  change  the  face  of  things, 
and  the  hearts  of  men,  and  break  vile  habits 
into  gentleness  and  counsel ;  that  such  a  reli 
gion,  in  such  a  time,  by  the  sermons  and  con- 


PROGRESS    OF    CHRISTIANITY.  163 

duct  of  fishermen,  men  of  mean  breeding  and 
illiberal  arts,  should  so  speedily  triumph  over 
the  philosophy  of  the  world,  and  the  argu 
ments  of  the  subtle,  and  the  sermons  of  the  elo 
quent  ;  the  power  of  princes  and  the  interests 
of  states,  the  inclinations  of  nature  and  the 
blindness  of  zeal,  the  force  of  custom  and  the 
solicitation  of  passions,  the  pleasures  of  sin  and 
the  busy  arts  of  the  devil ;  that  is,  against  wit 
and  power,  superstition  and  wilfulness,  fame 
and  money,  nature  and  empire,  which  are  all 
the  causes  in  this  world  that  can  make  a  thing 
impossible ;  this,  this  is  to  be  ascribed  to  the 
power  of  God,  and  is  the  great  demonstration 
of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus.  Every  thing  was 
an  argument  for  it,  and  improved  it ;  no  ob 
jection  could  hinder  it,  no  enemies  destroy  it ; 
whatsoever  was  for  them,  it  made  the  religion 
to  increase ;  whatsoever  was  against  them,  it 
made  it  to  increase ;  sunshine  and  storms, 
fair  weather  or  foul,  it  was  all  one  as  to  the 
event  of  things  :  for  they  were  instruments  in 
the  hands  of  God,  who  could  make  what  him 
self  should  choose  to  be  the  product  of  any 
cause;  so  that  if  the  Christians  had  peace, 
they  went  abroad  and  brought  in  converts  ;  if 
they  had  no  peace,  but  persecution,  the  con- 


164       THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOR. 

yerts  came  in  to  them.  In  prosperity  they 
allured  and  enticed  the  world  by  the  beauty  of 
holiness ;  in  affliction  and  trouble  they  amazed 
all  men  with  the  splendor  of  their  innocence, 
and  the  glories  of  their  patience ;  and  quickly 
it  was  that  the  world  became  disciple  to  the 
glorious  Nazarene,  and  men  could  no  longer 
doubt  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus,  when  it 
became  so  demonstrated  by  the  certainty  of 
them  that  saw  it,  and  the  courage  of  them 
that  died  for  it,  and  the  multitudes  of  them 
that  believed  it ;  w^ho  by  their  sermons  and 
their  actions,  by  their  public  offices  and  dis 
courses,  by  festivals  and  eucharists,  by  argu 
ments  of  experience  and  sense,  by  reason  and 
religion,  by  persuading  rational  men,  and  es 
tablishing  believing  Christians,  by  their  living 
in  the  obedience  of  Jesus,  and  dying  for  the 
testimony  of  Jesus,  have  greatly  advanced  his 
kingdom,  and  his  power,  and  his  glory,  into 
which  he  entered  after  his  resurrection  from 
the  dead.  For  he  is  the  first-fruits  ;  and  if  we 
hope  to  rise  through  him,  we  must  confess  that 
himself  is  first  risen  from  the  dead. 


CHAPTER  XY. 

DISSUASIVE  FROM  POPEEY — OBSTACLES  TO  PROTESTANTISM 

IN  IRELAND IRISH  CLERGY DUEL — CHARLES  TAYLOR 

DEATH POSTHUMOUS   WORKS- — DR.    RUST'S   SERMON 

BISHOP  TAYLOR'S  REMAINS — HIS  WIDOW  AND  DAUGHTERS 

WILLIAM  TODD  JONES EDWARD  JONES PERSONAL 

APPEARANCE — PORTRAITS. 

IK  1664,  Bishop  Taylor  published  a  Dissua 
sive  from  Popery r,  prepared  at  the  request 
of  his  brother  prelates.  The  reformed  doc 
trines  had  as  yet  made  but  little  impression 
upon  the  uneducated  Irish  people.  The  fault 
lay  to  a  great  extent  with  their  English  rulers, 
who  in  their  desire  to  make  the  English  lan 
guage  supplant  the  native  dialect,  and  partly 
perhaps  from  sheer  neglect,  omitted  to  send 
preachers  practised  in  the  Irish  language 
among  the  people.  Instead  of  this,  an  estab 
lishment  was  set  up,  and  the  people  required 
not  only  to  support  but  to  attend,  under  penal 
ty  of  fine,  a  service  which  was  unintelligible 
to  them.  They  were  not  even  supplied  with  a 
Bible  which  they  could  read. 


166  THE   LIFE    OF   JEKEMY   TAYLOR. 

Another  difficulty  lay  in  the  differences 
among  the  Protestants.  Many  of  these  were 
Calvinists,  and  almost  as  bitterly  opposed  to 
the  Church  of  England  as  to  the  Church  of 
Rome.  Concerted  action  seemed  therefore  im 
possible.  Single  individuals  had  from  time  to 
time  attempted  some  proselytizing  movements, 
and  with  marked  success,  but  this  had  not 
encouraged  to  any  wider  effort. 

The  Roman  Catholic  clergy  were  meanwhile 
using  every  exertion  to  perpetuate  their  hold 
upon  the  people.  One  of  the  most  efficient 
means  to  accomplish  this  was  by  identifying 
their  religious  belief  with  the  feeling  against 
English  rule.  So  far  as  they  could,  and  their 
power  was,  as  it  has  continued,  great,  they 
kept  their  congregations  in  ignorance. 

Bishop  Taylor's  treatise  was  not  intended  to 
meet  the  wants  of  the  common  people,  except 
through  the  medium  of  instructors.  He  sets 
forth  in  it,  the  great  arguments  furnished  by 
the  learned  and  able  heads  of  the  Reformation 
against  the  corruptions  of  Rome.  He  has 
himself  alluded  to  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of 
reaching  the  ear  of  the  many.  "  We  humbly 
desire  of  God,"  he  devoutly  says,  "  to  accept  and 
to  bless  this  well-meant  labor  of  love,  and  that 


THE   IKISH   CLEKGY. 


167 


by  some  admirable  ways  of  liis  providence,  lie 
will  be  pleased  to  convey  to  them,  the  notices 
of  their  danger  and  their  sin,  and  to  deob- 
struct  the  passages  of  necessary  truth  to  them  ; 
for  we  know  the  arts  of  their  guides,  and  that 
it  will  be  very  hard  that  the  notice  of  these 
things  shall  ever  be  suffered  to  arrive  to  the 
common  people,  but  that  which  hinders  will 
hinder,  until  it  be  taken  away  ;  however,  we 
believe  and  hope  in  God  for  remedy." 

It  is  to  be  regretted,  that,  as  Bishop  Heber 
suggests,  a  remedy  was  not  sought  for  this 
state  of  things  by  the  education  of  missionaries 
to  address  the  people  in  their  own  tongue. 
This,  however,  could  not  have  been  accomplish 
ed  by  Bishop  Taylor  without  the  co-operation 
of  his  brother  bishops  and  the  government, 
but  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  he  did  not  see  and 
point  out  some  plan  of  the  kind. 

This  was  the  last  of  Bishop  Taylor's  publica 
tions,  and  when  we  speak  of  the  end  of  his  lit 
erary  career,  the  reader  will  be  prepared  for 
the  speedy  close  of  all  his  earthly  affairs ;  for 
his  hand,  so  practised  and  industrious  in  au 
thorship,  was  not  one  to  drop  the  pen  until  the 
last  moment.  The  little  intervening  space  was, 
however,  like  almost  all  the  years  that  had 


168 


THE   LIFE   OF   JEREMY   TAYLOR. 


gone,  marked  by  trouble.     Bishop  Taylor  had 
as  we  have  seen,  buried  not  long  before  the 
only  remaining  son  of  his  second  marriage 
Two  sons  by  the  first  union  were  left.     One  of 
these,  a  captain  of  horse  in  the  king's  service, 
engaged  in  a  duel  with  a  brother  officer  of  the 
name  of  Vane,  in  which  both  were  mortally 
wounded.     It  was  a  sore  death  to  die,  at  once 
the  perpetrator  and  the  victim  of  violence,  and 
however  the  then  prevalent  laws  of  societv 
may  have  fallen  short  of  the  condemnation 
they  would  now  pronounce,  we  cannot  but  be 
lieve  that  if  the  sad  news  reached  his  ear,  the 
father's  sorrow  at  his  son's  death,  deepened  in 
to  anguish  over  its  unworthy  cause.     He  must 
have  thought  sadly  of  his  own  words  in  "The 
Apples  of  Sodom,"  "If  his  children  prove  vi 
cious  or  degenerous,  cursed  or  unprosperous, 
we  account  the  man  miserable,  and  his  grave 
to  be  strewed  with  sorrows  and  dishonors." 
After  quoting  in  the  same  discourse  from  clas 
sic  story,  many  examples  of  unworthy  sons  of 
noble  sires,  he  concludes  "posterity  did  weep 
afresh  over  the  monuments  of  their  brave  pro 
genitors,  and  found  that  infelicity  can  pursue 
a  man  and  overtake  him  in  his  grave." 
The  second  son,   Charles,  was  designed  for 


DEATH    AND   BUKIAL.  169 

Holy  Orders.  He  was  qualified  for  the  degree 
of  Master  of  Arts  at  Trinity  College,  Dublin, 
but  instead  of  entering  the  Church,  pursued 
the  very  opposite  course  of  becoming  the  com 
panion  and  at  last  the  secretary  of  the  profli 
gate  Duke  of  Buckingham,  in  whose  house  at 
Baynard's  Castle  he  died  of  a  decline,  and 
was  buried  in  St.  Margaret's  church,  Westmin 
ster,  on  the  second  of  August,  1667.  It  is  sur 
mised  that  the  father  may  have  been  spared 
the  knowledge  of  this  second  bereavement,  as 
he  was  the  day  after  the  funeral  stricken  with 
a  fever,  which  in  the  brief  space  of  ten  days 
reached  a  fatal  termination  on  the  thirteenth 
of  August. 

A  second  part  of  the  Dissuasive  from  Popery, 
prepared  in  reply  to  certain  strictures  on  the 
first  part,  by  John  Serjeant,  a  Romish  priest, 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  printer  at  the  time  of 
the  author's  decease.  It  was  soon  after  pub 
lished.  Another  posthumous  work,  a  Dis 
course  on  Christian  Consolation,  appeared  in 
1671,  and  Contemplations  on  the  State  of  Man, 
a  production  apparently  unfinished  and  unre- 
vised,  followed  in  1684. 

Bishop  Taylor  was  buried  in  the  church  at 
Dromore.  The  funeral  sermon  was  preached 
15 


170  THE   LIFE   OF   JEKEMY   TAYLOE. 

by  his  friend  Dr.  Bust,  who  succeeded  to  his 
vacant  episcopate.  The  discourse  is  much  in 
the  style  of  the  deceased  Bishop's  pulpit  com 
positions.  It  contains  a  brief  outline  of  his 
friend's  career,  and  a  most  eulogistic  enumera 
tion  of  his  virtues.  "  To  sum  up  all  in  a  few 
words,"  he  says,  "this  great  prelate  had  the 
good  humor  of  a  gentleman,  the  eloquence  of 
an  orator,  the  fancy  of  a  poet,  the  acuteness  of 
a  schoolman,  the  profoundness  of  a  philoso 
pher,  the  wisdom  of  a  counsellor,  the  sagacity 
of  a  prophet,  the  reason  of  an  angel,  and  the 
piety  of  a  saint ;  he  had  devotion  enough  for 
a  cloister,  learning  enough  for  a  university, 
and  wit  enough  for  a  college  of  virtuosi :  and 
had  his  parts  and  endowments  been  parcelled 
out  among  his  poor  clergy  that  he  left  behind 
him,  it  would,  perhaps,  have  made  one  of  the 
best  dioceses  in  the  world." 

The  Bishop's  remains  were  deposited  in  a 
vault  beneath  the  communion  table.  This 
vault  was  opened  about  the  year  1826,  and 
found  to  contain  a  leaden  coffin,  marked  with 
the  initials,  J.  T.  His  resting-place  remained 
unmarked  by  any  memorial  until  182T,  when 
Bishop  Mant  united  with  the  clergy  of  his 
diocese  in  placing  a  white  marble  tablet  in 


BISHOP  TAYLOR'S  DESCENDANTS.         171 

the  interior  of  Lisbura  Cathedral.  The  slab 
bears  an  appropriate  inscription.  It  is  deco 
rated  on  the  right  side  by  a  crosier,  and  at  the 
top  by  a  sarcophagus,  on  which  rests  a  Bible 
and  mitre. 

Bishop  Heber  states  that  the  remains  were 
disturbed  a  century  after  the  interment  to  give 
place  for  the  coffin  of  a  recently  deceased  prel 
ate,  and  that  they  were  afterwards  reverently 
replaced  by  a  worthy  successor,  Bishop  Percy, 
the  editor  of  the  "  Keliques." 

Dr.  Mant,  in  his  History  of  the  Church  of 
Ireland,  has  well  nigh  disproved  this  story. 
He  shows  that  but  one  bishop,  Marlay,  died  in 
possession  of  the  see  of  Dromore,  from  1713  to 
the  commencement  of  Bishop  Percy's  adminis 
tration  in  1781.  Bishop  Marlay  died  suddenly 
at  Dublin  in  1763.  There  is  no  evidence  that 
the  place  of  his  interment  was  at  Dromore,  or, 
if  it  was,  that  the  former  tenant  of  the  vault 
made  way  for  the  new. 

Bishop  Taylor's  widow  lived  for  several 
years  after  her  husband's  decease.  Three 
daughters  survived  him.  The  eldest,  Phoebe, 
died  unmarried.  Mary,  the  second,  the  wife 
of  Dr.  Francis  Marsh,  afterwards  Bishop  of 
Limerick,  and  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  has  nu- 


172      THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOR. 

merous  descendants.  Joanna,  the  third,  mar 
ried  Edward  Harrison,  for  many  years  the  rep 
resentative  of  Lisburn,  in  the  Irish  Parliament. 
One  of  their  descendants,  William  Todd  Jones, 
also  the  representative  of  Lisburn,  collected 
materials  from  the  family  papers  for  the  Bish 
op's  biography.  Among  these  were,  Bishop 
Heber  informs  us,  "  a  series  of  autograph  let 
ters  to  and  from  the  Bishop ;  and  a  <  family 
book'  also  in  his  own  handwriting,  giving  an 
account  of  his  parentage,  and  the  principal 
events  of  his  life,  with  comments  on  many  of 
the  public  transactions  in  which  he  himself,  or 
those  connected  with  him,  had  borne  a  share." 
Mr.  Jones  was  prevented,  by  his  sudden  death 
in  1818,  from  accomplishing  his  design,  and  his 
papers  have  unfortunately  disappeared.  His 
brother,  Edward  Jones,  is  reported  by  Bishop 
Heber,  as  "solicitor-general  to  the  State  of 
North  Carolina,  where  he  is  now  living,  with 
a  numerous  family." 

Bishop  Taylor  seems  to  have  retained 
through  life  much  of  the  personal  beauty 
which  was  so  often  noticed  on  his  first  appear 
ance  as  a  preacher.  His  portrait  was  fre 
quently  engraved  during  his  life  for  various 
editions  of  his  writings.  He  appears  to  have 


PORTE  AITS.  173 

twice  sat  to  artists.  The  first-executed  painting 
is  known  only  by  a  copy,  the  original  having 
been  lost  in  a  river  during  the  removal  of  the 
owner's  effects.  It  presents  a  pleasing,  cheer 
ful  countenance,  with  an  aquiline  nose,  full, 
dark,  benevolent  eyes,  and  curling  hair.  The 
second  portrait,  in  the  Hall  of  All  Souls'  Col 
lege,  Oxford,  was  taken  at  a  later  period.  The 
full  eye  and  benevolent  expression  remain,  but 
a  grave  air  is  spread  over  the  features  and  a 
closer  cap  has  taken  the  place  of  the  flowing 
locks.  We  have  copied  an  engraving  from 
the  first  of  these  in  the  illustration  to  this  vol 
ume.  An  excellent  engraving  of  the  second  is 
prefixed  to  Bishop  Heber's  edition  of  his 
workf , 

15* 


CHAPTEE  XVI. 

THE   SHAKESPEARE    OF  THEOLOGY BOOKS    AND    NATURE 

A  LIBRARY  OF  THEOLOGY EXTRACTS AMPLIFICATION 

VARIED    LEARNING AN    INDUSTRIOUS    AND     PRACTISED 

WRITER NOT     AN    ASCETIC — DEDICATIONS — ELOQUENCE 

ORIGINAL  DELIVERY — PERMANENCE  OF  REPUTATION 

PARALLEL CONCLUSION. 

JEREMY  TAYLOR  lias  been  called  the 
Shakespeare  of  Theology.  The  title  was 
conferred  by  one  of  the  first  critics  and  philos 
ophers  of  English  literature,  Samuel  Taylor 
Coleridge,  and  its  truth  and  beauty  have  been 
so  widely  recognized  that  it  now  seems  insep 
arable  from  the  name.  Taylor  was  a  far  great 
er  scholar  than  Shakespeare,  but  he  used  books 
as  the  poet  used  nature,  culling  everywhere 
some  form  of  beauty.  Many  of  his  finest  al 
lusions,  his  most  eloquently  told  and  aptly 
pointed  narratives,  are  from  old  forgotten  folios 
of  scholastic  lore,  requiring  an  insight,  pa 
tience,  and  charity  to  educe  living  thought 
and  practical  good  akin  to  that  which  found 


TAYLOK   AND    SHAKESPEARE.  175 

"  Sermons  in  stones,  books  in  the  running  brooks, 
And  good  in  every  thing." 

But  the  great  scholar  of  books  was  far  from 
forgetting  nature.  His  soul  was  too  full  of  the 
love  of  G-od  to  neglect  the  manifestations  of 
His  goodness  in  "  all  things  both  great  and 
small."  He  has  drawn  illustrations  constantly 
from  natural  objects :  the  music  of  birds,  the 
swaying  of  the  tree-tops,  the  beauty  of  flowers, 
the  glory  of  blended  earth  and  sky,  are  all  re 
produced  in  his  pages.  A  dweller  for  the 
greater  part  of  his  life  among  rural  scenes,  it  is 
evident  that  he  enjoyed  and  assimilated  their 
beauties. 

Bishop  Taylor  resembles  Shakespeare  in  the 
wide  spread  of  his  sympathies,  and  the  wide 
range  of  his  thought.  He  has  furnished  us 
in  his  writings  with  almost  a  complete  library 
of  theology.  He  has  guided  our  public  and 
private  devotions,  has  preached  to  us,  has  told 
us  the  story  of  our  Saviour's  life,  has  prepared 
us  for  the  sacraments  and  rites  of  the  Church, 
has  given  us  instruction  for  our  conduct  in  life . 
and  preparation  for  death,  has  defended  the 
doctrines  of  the  Church  from  the  attacks  of 
Romanist  and  dissenter,  and  furnished  a  "  Rule 


176      THE  LIFE  OF  JEEEMT  TATLOE. 

of  Conscience,"  for  the  regulation  of  our  pub 
lic  and  private  acts. 

Bishop  Taylor  delights  in  amplification.  He 
builds  up  a  simile  or  an  argument,  adding  sen 
tence  to  sentence,  running  on  sometimes  for 
a  page  or  two  without  resting  at  a  period,  so 
that  we  have  some  difficulty  in  returning  to 
the  main  subject  of  the  discourse.  This  con 
veys  an  impression  of  diffuseness,  when  the 
fault  does  not  really  exist,  for  we  shall  find  this 
extraneous  matter  as  full  of  thought  and  con 
scientious  labor  as  the  rest.  The  long  senten 
ces  at  first  seem  involved,  but  if  we  examine 
them  carefully,  we  shall  find  their  construction 
simple. 

The  learning  of  Jeremy  Taylor,  was,  as  we 
have  seen,  of  the  most  extended  and  varied  na 
ture.  He  has  not  only  the  Fathers  and  the 
Councils  but  the  Jewish  rabbis  and  the  East 
ern  philosophers  at  his  fingers'  ends.  He  is  at 
home  not  only  with  the  classical  authors  of 
Greece  and  Rome,  but  with  obscure  writers 
of  the  two  Empires.  He  draws  so  many  illus 
trations  from  medical  science,  that  if  inclined 
to  the  theoretical  style  of  biography  we  might 
allege  that  he  had  been  a  student  at  his  broth 
er-in-law's  apothecary  shop.  He  is  familiar 


DIFFICULTIES    OVERCOME. 

with  the  science  of  his  day,  the  entire  range 
of  history,  and  an  allusion  to  the  "  Grand  Cy 
rus"  shows  that  the  fashionable  novel  of  the 
time  was  not  beneath  his  notice.  This  mass  of 
erudition,  which  would  be  remarkable  in  any 
long  life  of  learned  leisure,  becomes  a  still 
greater  marvel  when  we  remember  Dr.  Tay 
lor's  unsettled  career,  and  the  limited  opportu 
nities  he  must  have  enjoyed,  even  in  his  retire 
ment  at  Golden  Grove,  and  in  Ireland,  for 
consulting  great  collections  of  books. 

The  vast  bulk  of  Bishop  Taylor's  writings 
bear  evidence,  with  his  store  of  learning,  not 
only  to  wonderful  industry  and  memory,  but  to 
wonderful  powers  of  rapid  literary  composi 
tion.  Some  of  his  most  elaborate  productions 
were  prepared  in  the  hubbub  of  the  camp,  or 
the  school-house.  Others  were  written  when  a 
strong  effort  of  will  must  have  been  needed, 
as  he  sat  down  to  his  desk,  to  drive  away  for  a 
time  the  anxieties  of  the  prison,  the  hiding- 
place,  the  wife  and  children  in  poverty.  He 
must  at  times  have  written  hastily  as  well  as 
rapidly,  and  to  this  may  be  attributed  his  oc 
casional  error  in  citing,  for  chance  illustration, 
evident  fable  for  veritable  history,  some  trick 
of  alchemy  as  scientific  truth ;  or  yielding  a 


178      THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOR. 

too  easy  credence  to  the  gorgon  tales  of  some 
far  wandering  traveller. 

Jeremy  Taylor  has  been  called  an  ascetic. 
To  "  youth  and  joy,"  the  solemn  subject  and 
style  of  his  volumes  are  probably  not  attract 
ive,  but  we  have  not  far  to  travel  over  the 
rough  path  of  the  world,  to  give  us  cause  to 
turn  with  thankfulness  to  their  warning  and 
consolation.  They  must  be  judged  from  the 
fair  ground  of  an  average  experience.  His 
style  maintains  a  fitting  gravity  and  elevation, 
but  we  look  in  vain  for  any  sympathy  with 
the  repressive  system  of  the  monk,  the  Puritan, 
or  the  dyspeptic  school  of  modern  times,  which 
would  turn  the  wedding-wine  back  to  water, 
stop  the  music  and  dancing  which  gladdened 
the  ear  of  the  returning  prodigal,  and. substi 
tute  "  a  dinner  of  herbs"  for  the  fatted  calf  of 
the  domestic  board.  Dr.  Taylor's  writings, 
far  from  showing  a  lack  of  sympathy  with  the 
innocent  enjoyments  of  health  and  vigor,  or 
the  merciful  alleviations  of  pain  and  sickness, 
exhibit  their  writer  as  one  who  had  a  hearty 
sympathy  with  home,  and  family,  and  the 
world  at  large.  The  whole  tenor  of  his  life 
bears  a  like  genial  testimony.  He  was  so 
far  from  undervaluing  cheerfulness,  that  he 


DEDICATIONS.  179 

lias,  in  several  of  his  illustrations,  given  evi 
dence  both  of  the  possession  and  appreciation 
of  humor. 

The  dedications  which  Bishop  Taylor  pre 
fixed  to  his  different  works  are  long  and  pro 
fuse  in  compliment.  A  charge  has  been  based 
upon  them,  that  their  author  was  a  mean  flat 
terer  of  the  great.  It  seems  to  us  a  sufficient 
answer  to  this  charge,  that  one  of  these  dedi 
cations  was  addressed  to  a  king  virtually  de 
throned,  and  kept  its  place  after  the  monarch's 
head  had  fallen  from  the  block.  Another  is 
also  found  in  the  formal  custom  of  the  time. 
An  introduction  to  the  translation  of  the  Bible 
addressed  to  Queen  Victoria,  would  not  prob 
ably  be  written  in  the  style  of  that  addressed 
to  Jame  sthe  First ;  and  Jeremy  Taylor,  if  writ 
ing  at  the  present  day,  would  probably  word 
his  dedications  in  a  more  condensed  form  than 
he  adopted  two  hundred  years  ago.  The  faults 
of  the  time  must  not  be  weighed  too  heavily 
on  the  shoulders  of  the  individual. 

It  is  as  hard  to  describe  the  eloquence  of 
Jeremy  Taylor,  as  to  portray  the  clouds  piled 
on  clouds,  now  all  aglow  with  the  ruddy 
glory  of  the  sunset,  now  dark  and  terrible 
with  presage  of  the  coming  tempest.  He 


180       THE  LIFE  OF  JEREMY  TAYLOE. 

heaps  illustration  upon  illustration,  and  blends 
sonorous  phrase  of  trumpet  tone  with  gentle 
words  of  lute-like  whisper,  in  such  profusion 
and  at  such  length,  that  we  sometimes  pant  in 
following  him. 

These  sermons,  suggestive  of  cathedral  gran 
deur,  which  should  seem  to  have  been  deliv 
ered  before  princes  and  potentates,  before 
mighty  armies  girded  for  battle,  before  the 
vast  city  throng  elated  by  public  rejoicing,  or 
bowed  in  a  common  grief  at  the  open  grave 
of  some  great  benefactor,  found  their  first  au 
ditors  in  quiet  village  churches.  We  fancy 
the  great  sentences  bounding  back  upon  the 
speaker  from  the  narrow  wall.  We  fancy  him 
soon  wearying  of  intellectual  toil  for  such  in 
considerable  results.  Why  spread  so  magnifi 
cent  a  feast  for  so  few  guests  ?  He  remem 
bered  the  liberality  of  the  Church  at  whose  al 
tar  he  served.  The  sublimities  of  her  Liturgy 
were  lavished  in  all  their  fulness  on  the  hum 
ble  as  on  the  mighty,  on  the  gathered  two  or 
three  as  on  the  innumerable  throng.  The 
Church  always  gave  her  best,  and  he  followed 
her  example. 

A  simpler  style  might  perhaps  have  been 
better  adapted  to  an  uneducated  auditory,  but 


HOUSEHOLD  REPUTATION.         181 

it  is  by  no  means  probable  that  Jeremy  Tay 
lor's  small  congregations  were  entirely  made 
up  of  unlearned  men.  The  troubles  of  the 
times  drove  many  of  high  birth  and  culture 
to  retirement.  Golden  Grove  was  for  some 
time  near  the  scene  of  action,  and  many  no 
doubt  improved  the  opportunity  of  hearing 
the  great  divine.  The  ordinary  household  of 
Golden  Grove  was,  as  we  have  seen,  graced  by 
intellectual  and  moral  worth,  and  constantly 
reinforced  by  guests  of  like  disposition. 

It  matters  little  now,  whether  the  auditors 
of  Jeremy  Taylor  were  few  or  many,  rich  or 
poor,  whether  they  listened  or  dozed  beneath 
his  pulpit.  The  sound  of  his  noble  sermons 
went  forth  through  the  little  chapel  windows 
to  the  world  beyond  as  effectually  as  if  it  had 
first  hovered  over  a  sea  of  faces,  and  echoed 
from  pointed  arch  or  rounded  dome.  It  has 
gone  forth  to  all  lands,  and  is  heard  in  well 
nigh  every  household. 

His  Holy  Living  and  Dying,  The  Great  Ex 
emplar,  the  Golden  Grove,  and  other  devotion 
al  works  have  not  only  kept  place  with  the  Ser 
mons  in  their  fame,  but  have  won  a  still  more 
enviable  place  in  the  affection  of  those  who 
care  for  such  things.  The  Holy  Lining  and 
16 


182      THE  LIFE  OF  JEEEMY  TAYLOK. 

Dying  has  been  the  constant  companion  of 
the  midway  and  closing  years  of  many.  The 
Great  Exemplar  has  often  passed,  hallowed  by 
pious  hopes,  from  the  trembling  hand  of  age 
to  the  firm  grasp  of  youth.  The  Golden  Grove 
has  brought  a  better  than  golden  comfort  to 
the  humble  closet  and  the  sick  man's  pillow. 

We  can  easily  trace  a  parallel  to  the  darker 
days  of  this  great  career.  Jeremy  Taylor,  in 
his  little  country  parish,  struggling  to  support 
a  wife  and  children  by  teaching  school  to  eke 
out  a  scanty  stipend,  furnishes  a  picture  to  be 
readily  matched  in  our  own  time  and  clime, 
but  too  often  unrelieved  by  the  genialities  of 
a  Golden  Grove  or  the  sympathies  of  a  Count 
ess  of  Carbery.  "We  cannot  hope  that  a  com 
mensurate  success  will  follow  a  commensurate 
privation,  that  all  young  country  parsons  will 
turn  out  Jeremy  Taylors,  or  even  bishops. 
They  may,  however,  follow  out  the  suggestions 
connected  with  the  surname  rather  than  the 
baptismal  appellation  of  our  divine,  and  in 
stead  of  lamenting  that  their  lot  is  cast  with 
the  unappreciative,  "  whose  talk  is  of  bullocks," 
do  their  best  cheerfully  and  unweariedly  in  a 
remote  and  limited  sphere.  The  MS.  volume 
of  sermons  may  comeback  in  the  same  brown 


FIT    AUDIENCE. 


paper  travelling-dress  in  which  it  departed,  in 
stead  of  reappearing  in  the  beauty  of  type, 
wafted  over  a  sea  of  glory  by  favoring  blasts 
from  complimentary  newspapers.  The  call 
may  be  long  in  coming,  but  the  true  scholar 
and  clergyman  will  in  some  way  find  fit  utter 
ance,  and  be  honored  and  prized  by  all  to 
whom  the  Church,  the  Church  of  the  strug 
gling  present  as  well  as  of  the  glorious  past,  is 
dear. 


THE   END. 


New  Publications. 


From  THE  CHURCH  BOOK  SOCIETY,  762  Broadway,  New 
York  :— 

The  Lives  of  the  Bishops : 

LIFE  OF  BISHOP  BASS, 

LIFE  OF  BISHOP  PROVOST, 

LIFE  OF  BISHOP  STEWART. 

These  are  the  three  last  of  the  excellent  series  in  course 
of  publication  by  the  Episcopal  Sunday  School  Union,  and 
written  by  the  Eev.  J.  N.  NORTON.  They  have  more  than 
usual  interest ;  the  first  two  embrace  periods  of  history 
generally  interesting  to  all.  The  life  of  Bishop  BASS,  of 
Massachusetts,  gives  us  a  picture  of  the  early  life  of  that 
far-famed  colony,  and  biographical  sketches  of  many 
prominent  men,  as  well  as  the  central  portrait,  its  first 
bishop. 

Bishop  PROVOST,  of  New  York,  was  consecrated  at  the 
close  of  the  Revolutionary  struggle,  and  his  life  necessarily 
attracts  historical  anecdotes  and  sketches  of  great  value, 
many  of  them  quite  new. 

Bishop  STEWART,  of  Quebec,  was  a  rare  instance  of  self- 
denying  earnestness,  in  the  work  of  his  Master.  He  was 
the  son  of  the  Earl  of  Galloway,  but  gave  up  rank  and 
place  for  the  life  of  a  frontier  missionary,  living  in  the 
most  absolute  simplicity,  and  giving  his  large  private  in 
come  away  in  public  and  private  charities.  The  story 
shames  us  who  sit  at  ease  and  wish  the  world  made  better. 
—Godey's  Lady's  Book. 


New  Publications. 


UNCA :   A  Story  for  Girls. 

By  the  author  of  "Uncle  Jack,  the  Fault- Killer." 
Charmingly  simple,  and  very  attractive  to  children  from 
six  to  ten.     We  recommend  it  for  our  Juvenile  Library, 
No.  2. 

MOTES  IN  THE  SUNBEAM,  and 

THE  CIRCLE  OF  BLESSING. 

BY  MRS.  THOMAS  GATTT. 

As  children's  books  have  a  double  work  to  do — instruct 
ing  the  grown-up  pupils  of  a  family,  as  well  as  the  children 
they  are  ostensibly  provided  for — we  shall  not  quarrel  with 
these  fascinating  little  volumes  because  the  moral  of  the 
tale  and  sometimes  its  arrangement  are  above  the  compre. 
hension  of  young  readers.  Some  knowledge  of  natural 
history  and  much  experience  of  life  are  required  before 
their  lessons,  or  even  the  graceful  and  happily-turned  allu 
sions  with  which  they  abound,  can  be  fully  appreciated. 
We  commend  them  to  all  mothers,  both  for  "  pleasure  and 
profit." 

In  OLD    FRIENDS    WITH    NEW  FACES,    by 

ALOE,  we  have  those  standard  favorites:  "Blue  Beard," 
"  The  Genii  and  Fishermen,"  the  "  Singing  Fountain,"  etc., 
paraphrased  into  most  ingeniously  instructive  allegories. 
"Blue  Beard,"  for  instance,  is  "Baron  Procrastination," 
and  slays  the  charming  brides,  "Study-Well,"  "Work- 
Well,"  "Please-my-Mother,"  "Speak-Kindly,"  "Help- 
Others,"  and  "Rise-Early;"  while  "Consider- Well,"  the 
last,  is  only  rescued  by  Sister  "Try's"  help,  who  discovers 
the  brothers  "Firmness"  and  "Sense"  coming  to  pay 
them  a  visit.  We  wish  we  were  "  a  boy  again,"  when  we 
see  such  aids  to  "Good  Resolution"  held  out  to  this  rising 
generation. — Godey's  Lady's  Book. 
2 


New  Publications. 


WE  have  learned  to  welcome  the  packages  of  the  PROTES 
TANT  EPISCOPAL  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  UNION,  assured  that  all  their 
publications  are  useful,  and  many  of  them  have  rare  merit. 
As  a  holiday  gift  suited  to  school-girls,  we  notice 

ELLIE      RANDOLPH, 

BY  Miss  KITTY  J.  NEELY, 

a  volume  approaching  the  single  tales  of  Miss  Yonge  in  size, 
and  which  has  for  its  purpose  the  illustration  of  the  truth 
that  those  who  choose  "the  good  part"  with  Mary,  accom 
plish,  by  their  quiet  and  consistent  lives,  more  than  Martha 
with  her  busy  spirit  and  many  cares.  It  is  a  story  of 
Southern  life,  the  characters  well  drawn,  the  aim  of  the 
book  gradually  unfolded,  and  the  scenes  touching  or  spir 
ited,  as  the  occasion  demands.  The  whole  tone  of  the  book 
is  admirable.  Miss  Neely  is  the  sister  of  Mrs.  Bradley, 
whose  "Bread upon  the  Waters"  and  "Douglass  Farm"  are 
known  to  many  of  our  readers. 

CHRISTMAS  VIGILS  and  CHRISTMAS  EARN 
INGS  are  two  excellent  little  stories  for  younger  children. 

With  some  of  the  HYMNS  FOR  A  CHRISTIAN 

CHILD,  our  own  little  people  have  before  this  been  made 
familiar.  They  are  intended  for  quite  young  children. 

"  Little  children  must  be  quiet, 
When  to  holy  church  they  go," 

"The  Christmas  Hymn,"  and  "Do  no  Sinful  Action,"  are 
among  their  favorites. 

LITTLE  FOOTPRINTS  is  the  suggestive  title  of  a 
touching  little  story  of  the  life  and  death  of  "a  Christian 
child. " — Newspaper. 


New  Publications. 


Catechism  of  the  Bible: 

The  Church  teaches  her  children  not  only  to  read  the 
Word  of  God,  but  to  pray  that  they  may  also  "  mark,  learn, 
and  inwardly  digest"  that  heavenly  food  of  the  soul.  To 
follow  out  the  figure  presented  in  the  last  of  these  signifi 
cant  words,  the  digesting,  it  is  necessary  that  the  Holy  Book 
be  read,  not  only  in  large  portions  at  a  time,  but  be  studied 
with  a  minute  and  particular  care,  without  which  its  most 
nutritious  parts  are  apt  to  escape  the  mind,  and  be  thrown 
off  as  little  better  than  chaff.  To  bring  out  this  faithful 
thoroughness,  there  is  no  method  like  the  old  catechetical 
system — the  Church  system  par  eminence.  Major  E.  D. 
Townsend  has  furnished  the  Church  with  a  catechetical 
volume  of  over  300  pages,  devoted  to  the  elucidation  of  the 
Pentateuch.  The  questions  and  answers  are  brief  and  perti 
nent,  the  answers  being  for  the  most  part  embodied  in  the 
very  words  of  Scripture,  and  from  any  part  of  it  which  best 
illustrates  the  subject  in  hand.  The  meanings  of  Hebrew 
names  are  given  also,  and  many  details  of  ancient  manners 
and  customs  which  render  clearer  the  meaning  of  Holy 
Writ.  Each  Lesson  is  divided,  moreover,  into  two  parts,  the 
former  of  which  is  suitable  for  younger  children,  and  the 
latter  for  those  that  are  further  advanced.  To  the  latter  are 
appended  Remarks,  distinguished  by  brevity,  g'ood  sense, 
and  a  devout  and  churchlike  tone  of  thought  and  feeling, 
which  give  them  no  slight  value.  It  is  an  unusual  occur 
rence,  and  one  well  worthy  of  special  mention,  that  it  is 
the  Senior  Major  in  the  United  States  Army  who  has  thus 
carefully  prepared  a  book  like  this  for  the  instruction  of  the 
children  of  the  Church. — Church  Journal. 
4 


THE 


LIFE  OF  GEORGE  HERBERT 

BY 

GEOKGE  L.  DUYCKINCK. 


GEORGE  HERBERT  is  of  all  England's  sacred  poets  tha 
most  sure  of  an  enduring  fame.  He  was  a  true  poet. 
His  life,  too,  was  a  very  lovely  one — that  of  a  true  Chris 
tian,  of  a  scholar,  a  gentleman,  and  a  faithful  parish 
priest.  More  than  this,  he  was  "beloved  of  dear  old  Izaak 
Walton,  who  wrote  his  life  with  that  sweet  homeliness  of 
style  which  wins  all  honest  hearts  to  him.  Mr.  Duyckinck 
has  undertaken,  in  this  pretty  little  volume,  to  set  forth 
Herbert's  life  again  "  with  a  simplicity  of  style  and  ful 
ness  of  detail  which  should  in  some  degree  meet  the  re 
quirements  both  of  youthful  and  mature  readers."  He 
has  been  very  successful  in  a  not  very  easy  task.  He  has 
come  to  the  work  imbued  with  a  love  of  his  subject,  and 
thoroughly  understanding  it ;  and  he  writes  with  an  un 
affected  earnestness  and  purity  quite  in  keeping  with 
it.  The  young  reader  will  find  much  valuable  and  inter 
esting  information  in  the  book,  upon  matters  kindred  to 
or  connected  with  its  main  purpose  ;  and  it  is  calculated 
to  foster  a  correct  literary  taste,  no  less  than  to  beget  « 
healthy  moral  tone. — Courier  and  Enquirer. 
30 


BIOGRAPHY    OF    THE 

HIEMEY   MA3ETYH 

BY  THE  REV,  D,  P,  SANFORD,  M,A,, 

OF  BROOKLYN. 

£2UftI)  a  portrait  nnK  5-Ihtstrnttons. 


THIS  work  is  prepared  in  a  very  careful  and  interesting 
style.  The  peculiar  warmth,  strength,  and  depth  of 
Martyn's  personal  experience,  with  all  its  sensitiveness, 
tenderness,  and  wonderful  boldness  and  energy,  are  faith 
fully  preserved,  and  illustrated  with  copious  extracts  from 
his  private  diary  and  correspondence.  The  more  church- 
like  features  of  his  character,  principles,  and  practice  are 
not  omitted  or  ignored,  as  is  too  commonly  the  case,  but 
are  fairly  and  truthfully  stated.  His  extraordinary  labors 
in  the  East  —  the  breaking  the  soil,  and  watering  the 
ground  with  his  tears,  and  sowing  the  seed  of  the  Word 
of  Life—  all  this  is  narrated  with  genial  spirit  and  patient 
minuteness,  until  his  life  of  wondrous  youth  was  crowned 
by  an  early  death.  Martyn,  more  than  any  other  man, 
has  been  the  germinant  spirit  of  the  missionary  enter 
prise  that  now  distinguishes  the  Church  ;  and  the  vast 
power  of  his  spiritual  energy  has  made  itself  widely  felt 
among  the  denominations  around  us,  as  well  as  among 
ourselves.  His  name  has  been  music  upon  ten  thousand 
tongues,  and  yet  breathes  fragrance  from  ten  times  ten 
thousand  hearts.  Mr.  Sanford  has  done  the  Church  a 
great  service  in  placing  so  excellent  a  memoir  of  such  a 
man  on  the  shelves  of  our  Sunday  School  libraries,  where 
it  will  have  the  best  chance  to  impregnate  minds  yet 
fresh  and  young  with  the  best  life  of  Martyn's  singular 
self-devotion,  and  gentle,  loving,  and  therefore  irresist 
ible,  power. 

11 


THE    BOY    MISSIONARY, 

BY  MES.  JENNY  MAESH  PARKER. 


THE  BOY  MISSIONARY  is  one  of  the  best  things  the 
Church  Book  Society  has  given  us  in  a  long  while.  The 
idea  is,  to  show  how  a  poor  little  boy— weak,  sickly,  and 
not  able  to  study  much— may  have  the  spirit  of  a  mis 
sionary,  and  may,  among  his  fellows,  do  the  work  of  a 
missionary,  too,  even  in  boyhood  ;  while  others,  of  more 
brilliant  parts  and  more  commanding  social  position,  look 
forward  to  missionary  life  as  something  future  and  far 
distant,  and  find  their  days  brought  to  an  end  before 
their  work  is  even  begun.  The  authoress,  Jenny  Marsh 
Parker,  shows  no  small  knowledge  of  boy  nature,  and 
the  temptations  incident  to  the  life  of  boys  in  a  country 
village.  Davie  Hall  will  make  many  missionaries,  both 
for  the  Far  West  and  for  home.— Church  Journal. 


fift  of  imp  f etlert. 

BY  GEORGE  L.  DUYCKINCK. 

New  York,  1858 :  pp.  19T. 


WE  have  too  long  neglected  to  do  our  share  in  bringing 
this  delightful  little  book  to  the  notice  of  the  lovers  of 
holy  George  Herbert,  among  whom  we  may  safely  reckon 
a  large  number  of  the  readers  of  the  "  Atlantic."  It  ia 
based  on  the  life  by  Izaak  Walton,  but  contains  much  new 
matter,  either  out  of  Walton's  reach  or  beyond  the  range 
of  his  sympathy. 

Notices  are  given  of  Nicholas  Ferrar  and  other  friends 
of  Herbert.  There  is  a  very  agreeable  sketch  of  Bemertou 
and  its  neighborhood,  as  it  now  is,  and  the  neat  illustra 
tions  are  of  the  kind  that  really  illustrate.  The  Brothers 
Duyckinck  are  well  known  for  their  unpretentious  and 
valuable  labors  in  the  cause  of  good  letters  and  American 
literary  history,  and  this  is  precisely  such  a  book  as  we 
should  expect  from  the  taste,  scholarship,  and  purity  of 
mind  which  distinguish  both  of  them.  It  is  much  the 
best  account  of  Herbert  with  which  we  are  acquainted.— 
Atlantic  Monthly. 

43 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

AN     INITIAL    FINE    OF    25    CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
™S  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  5O  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  »1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


rrirj* 


